[462] Ib. “Quæ mentis elatio ita excrevit in eo ut, quemadmodum dicebatur, crederet et publica voce assereret nullum sanctorum cuiquam apud Deum posse prodesse, et ideo nec se velle, nec aliquem sapientem debere, beatum Petrum seu quemlibet alium quo se juvaret interpellare.”
[463] Joinville, p. 217 ed. Michel; “Le roy ama tant Dieu et sa douce mère que touz ceulz que il pooit atteindre qui disoient de Dieu ne de sa mère chose déshoneste ne vilein serement, que il les fesoit punir griefment.” He goes on to tell how, like Saint Wulfstan (see N. C. vol. iv. p. 386) but unlike Saint Eadward (ib. ii. p. 26), he never swore nor mentioned the devil.
[464] Giraldus (de Inst. Prin. c. iii. 11) gives a specimen of his blasphemies, and adds, “quibus ne memoriæ refricatio facinus atque blasphemiam posteris ad mentem revocet, supersedere potius quam paginam nostram commaculare dignum duximus.”
[465] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 54. “In tantum ex successibus suis profecit ut, sicut hi qui factis ejus die noctuque præsentes exstiterunt attestantur, numquam vel de lecto surgeret vel in lecto se collocaret, quin seipsum aut collocante aut surgente semper deterior esset.”
[466] See Appendix G.
[467] See Appendix G.
[468] See Appendix G.
[469] See N. C. vol. i. p. 255.
[470] See Appendix H.
[471] Twice under the same year 1091 the Chronicler adds to the record of a treaty concluded by Rufus that it “litle hwile stode.”
[473] I refer to the story of the Angevin knights at Ballon, told by Orderic (772 C, D). We shall come to it in a later chapter.
[474] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 220.
[475] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 438.
[476] This was at the siege of Padua in 1509. “Maximilien fit proposer à La Palisse de faire mettre pied à terre à sa gendarmerie pour monter à l’assaut avec les landsknechts. Mais d’après le conseil de Bayard, La Palisse répondit que la gendarmerie française était toute composée de gentilshommes, et qu’il ne serait pas convenable de la faire combattre pêle-mêle avec les fantassins allemands, qui étaient roturiers.” Sismondi, Rép. Ital. xiv. 26.
[477] The story of the massacre of Limoges, the most truly chivalrous deed ever done, is well known. It will be found in Froissart, i. 289 (vol. i. p. 401, ed. Sauvage).
[478] Hallam, who thoroughly understood Henry the Eighth, adds in a note (Const. Hist. i. 36); “After all, Henry was every whit as good a king and man as Francis I, whom there are still some, on the other side of the channel, servile enough to extol; not in the least more tyrannical and sanguinary, and of better faith towards his neighbours.” The famous letter of Francis about all being lost except honour is now disbelieved, but it is characteristic all the same. I have said something about this in the Fortnightly Review, December, 1876.
It is singular enough that in 1546 some reader of the “Normanniæ Nova Chronica,” after the entries about the misdeeds of William Rufus in 1098, bursts out (p. 9) into a fierce invective against the vices and oppressions of Francis the First, as far surpassing those of Rufus. If men murmured in 1098, how much more reason had they to murmur in 1546.
[479] There is nothing special to note as to the authorities for this chapter, except that we now begin to make some little use of the Lives of the Bishops of Le Mans in Mabillon’s Vetera Analecta, of which we shall have to make much larger use in a later chapter.
Since this chapter was written and partly printed, I have come across a book called “Le Dernier des Ducs Normands. Étude de Critique Historique sur Robert Courte-Heuse; par Gaston le Hardy (Caen, 1880).” It is a gallant apology for Duke Robert, who however, it seems, cannot be set up without a cruel setting down both of Orderic and of King Henry. M. le Hardy believes in the false Ingulf and seems to be an enemy to Italian freedom. He has worked with care at his authorities, and I have to thank him for a few references; but his style of criticism is odd. In p. 47 he argues against the last speech of the Conqueror in Orderic—a speech very open to argument against it on other grounds—because William is there made to confess that he had no right to the English crown. This at least cannot be. “Comment croire que le Conquérant, dont les droits légitimes à la couronne d’Angleterre étaient au moins fondés sur des apparences très-respectables, puisqu’elles décidèrent le Pape à se prononcer en sa faveur, se soit appliqué à les désavouer, et à démentir ainsi toute sa vie.” I think more highly both of the intellect and of the conscience of William the Great. I can conceive his being led to repent of his sins, even though the Pope told him that they were no sins. M. le Hardy, like so many of his countrymen, seems unable to understand any English matter, and he seems never to have looked at any English or German book.
I let my estimate of Robert stay where it was. His character is best summed up in the portrait drawn by William of Malmesbury at the end of his fourth book;
“Patria lingua facundus ut sit jocundior nullus; in aliis consiliosus ut nihil excellentius; militiæ peritus ut si quis unquam; pro mollitie tamen animi nunquam regendæ reipublicæ idoneus judicatus.”
I think I have throughout done justice to Robert’s military skill—it was more than mere daring—and to his gifts as a counsellor of others.
[480] Chron. Petrib. 1089. “Swilc eac gewarð ofer eall Engleland mycel eorðstyrunge, on þone dæg iii. Id. Aug.” Will. Malms. iv. 322. “Secundo anno regni ejus terræ motus ingens totam Angliam exterruit tertio idus Augusti, horrendo miraculo, ut ædificia omnia eminus resilirent, et mox pristino more residerent.” Some annals, as those of Plympton (Liebermann, 26), directly connect the events. “Obiit Lanfrancus archiepiscopus, et terra mota est.”
[481] Chron. u. s. “And wæs swiðe lætsum gear on corne and on ælces cynnes wæstmum, swa þæt manig man ræpon heora corn onbuton Martines mæssan and gyt lator.” “Vix ad festum sancti Andreæ,” says William of Malmesbury.
[482] Chron. Petrib. 1090. “And betwyx þisum þingum þis land wæs swiðe fordón on unlaga gelde and on oðre manige ungelimpe.”
[483] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 558, 638.
[484] Ib. p. 493.
[485] Ord. Vit. 708 B. He does not say distinctly at what stage he means. Geoffrey Gaimar (Chron. Angl. Norm. i. 35) has an elaborate picture of Robert at his greatest;
He then goes on to mention his brothers. (See above, p. 37.) Many of the places on this list will come in our story. “Rom,” it is hardly needful to say, is only the capital of Normandy, not of the world. But what are the three counties in England? There is Shropshire, and most likely Sussex. What is the third? Yorkshire, on the strength of Tickhill? But Robert had no earldom there.
[486] Ord. Vit. 675 D.
[487] Hen. Hunt. De Cont. Mund. 11. “Gens ipsis dæmonibus horrenda.”
[488] See N. C. vol. i. p. 468. The Archdeacon of Huntingdon himself, with a slight contempt of sex and species, calls him “Pluto, Megæra, Cerberus, vel si aliquid horrendi scribi potest.” He speaks of the proverb, “Mirabilia Roberti de Belesme.”
[489] See his two pictures in Orderic, 675 C, D, and 707 C, D. In his character of engineer we shall meet him at Gisors. See 766 B.
[490] Ord. Vit. 707 D. “Magis affectabat supplicia miseris inferre quam per redemptionem captivorum pecunias augere.” So Hen. Hunt. u. s. Yet, as some of his captives escaped, he lost the ransom for nothing.
[491] Ib. “Homines privatione oculorum et amputatione pedum manuumve deformare parvipendebat, sed inauditorum commeditatione suppliciorum in torquendis miseris more Siculi Phalaris tripudiabat. Quos in carcere pro reatu aliquo stringebat, Nerone seu Decio vel Diocletiano sævior, indicibiliter cruciabat, et inde jocos cum parasitis suis et cachinnos jactabundus exercebat. Tormentorum quæ vinctis inferebat delectatione gloriabatur, hominumque detractione pro pœnarum nimietate crudelis lætabatur.” The special detail of the impaling comes from Henry of Huntingdon, who says also, “Erat ei cædes horribilis hominum cibus jucundus animæ.”
[492] Will. Malms. v. 398. “Simulationis et argutiarum plenus, frontis sereno et sermonum affabilitate credulos decipiens, gnaros autem malitiæ exterritans, ut nullum esset majus futuræ calamitatis indicium quam prætensæ affabilitatis eloquium.” Something of the same kind was said of King Henry himself. See N. C. vol. v. p. 841.
[493] Ord. Vit. 708 B. She at last escaped to Countess Adela at Chartres, and got to her own land of Ponthieu.
[494] The story is told with the difference spoken of in the text by Henry of Huntingdon (de Cont. Mundi, 11) and by William of Malmesbury (v. 398). Henry says only, “Filioli sui oculos sub chlamide positi quasi ludens pollicibus extraxit.” William supplies a kind of motive; “Puerulum ex baptismo filiolum, quem in obsidatum acceperat, pro modico delicto patris excæcarit, lumina miselli unguibus nefandis abrumpens.” That is, the Archdeacon makes the ugly story still uglier, just as in the case of the children of Juliana. See N. C. vol. v. pp. 157, 841.
[495] Ord. Vit. 708 A. “Ob insolentiam et cupiditatem plurima contra collimitaneos prælia cœpit; sed sæpe victus cum damno et dedecore aufugit.”
[496] See further on in this chapter.
[497] Ord. Vit. 675 D.
[498] See Ord. Vit. 707 D for the Bishop; ib. 678 A and Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 127 for the Abbot. With the bishopric there was a question of the right of advowson; “Episcopium contra jus et fas comprimebat, et Guillelmo Belesmensi avo ejus a Ricardo duce datum asserebat.” Cf. on the bishopric of Le Mans, N. C. vol. iii. p. 194. From the Abbot too he demanded an oath of allegiance, “de sacramento et homagio abbatem exagitare.” This was in Henry’s time.
[499] Ord. Vit. 668 C. “Robertus Belesmensis qui patri tuo fuit valde dilectus, et multis honoribus olim ab ipso promotus.” See above, p. 84.
[500] Hen. Hunt. u. s. “Quem tantopere fama coluerat dum viveret, in carcere utrum viveret vel obisset, nescivit, diemque mortis ejus obmutescens ignoravit.”
[501] Will. Malms. v. 407. “Homo antiquæ simplicitatis et fidei, qui crebro a Willelmo primo invitatus ut Angliam veniret, largis ad voluntatem possessionibus munerandus, supersedit, pronuncians patrum suorum hæreditatem se velle fovere, non transmarinas et indebitas possessiones vel appetere vel invadere.” (Cf. N. C. vol. iv. p. 448.) We have heard of him already; N. C. vol. ii. p. 201; iii. 288, 380, 386; iv. 82, 192, 475, 645.
[502] See the story in p. 186.
[503] Will. Malms. u. s.; Will. Pict. 134; Will. Gem. vii. 4; Ord. Vit. 709 A.
[504] This Norman Beaumont must be distinguished from the French and Cenomannian Beaumonts which we shall meet with, just as there is a Norman, a French, and a Cenomannian Montfort.
[505] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 487.
[506] Will. Malms. v. 407. “Cum superiorum regum tempore, spe sensim pullulante, in gloriam procederet, hujus [Henrici] ætate summo provectu effloruit, habebaturque ejus consilium quasi quis divinum consuluisset sacrarium.” So Hen. Hunt. de Cont. Mund. 7. “Fuit Robertus consul de Mellend in rebus secularibus sapientissimus omnium hinc usque in Jerusalem degentium.”
[507] We shall see this presently in the story of Helias. See Ord. Vit. 773 B.
[508] See N. C. vol. v. p. 828.
[509] Hen. Hunt. u. s. “Fuit scientia clarus, eloquio blandus, astutia perspicax, providentia sagax, ingenio versipellis, prudentia insuperabilis, consilio profundus, sapientia magnus.” A goodly string of synonyms. William of Malmesbury (u. s.) gives more details. He was “suasor concordiæ, dissuasor discordiæ,” “in placitis propugnator justitiæ, in guerris provisor victoriæ, dominum regem ad severitatem legum custodiendam exacuens, ipse non eas sequens sed proponens, expers in regem perfidiæ, in ceteros ejus persecutor.” He was “ingentis in Anglia momenti, ut inveteratum vestiendi vel comedendi exemplo suo inverteret morem.” He brought in the “consuetudo semel prandendi,” contrary to the custom of Harthacnut.
[510] We shall see him in both characters as we go on. See Appendix Y. He stood firmly by the King in the matter of investiture. See Will. Malms. v. 417.
[511] Will. Malms. v. 406. This was when Pope Calixtus came into Normandy in 1110. See N. C. vol. v. p. 191.
[512] See N. C. vol. v. pp. 197, 207, 288.
[513] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 192.
[514] I do not quite understand the story in Henry of Huntingdon (8) about another earl depriving Robert of his wife or bride; “Contigit quemdam alium consulem sponsam ei tam factione quam dolosis viribus arripuisse. Unde in senectute sua mente turbatus et angaria obnubilatus, in tenebras mœroris incidit, nec usque ad mortem se lætum vel hilarem sensit.” Earl Robert’s widow, Elizabeth or Isabel of Crépy or Vermandois, was presently married again to the younger Earl William of Warren. (See Ord. Vit. 686 B, 723 D, 805 D; Will. Gem. viii. 40, 41.) Was there anything irregular or scandalous about the marriage? Count Robert married her in 1096, so that, as he was distinctly old at his death in 1118, she must have been far from young. His children therefore were children of his advanced life, which lessens the difficulty about the child whom his daughter Isabel is said to have borne to King Henry late in his reign. (Will. Gem. viii. 29; cf. 37; and see N. C. vol. v. p. 844.)
[515] Hen. Hunt. u. s. “Ut terras quas vi vel arte multis abstulerat, pœnitens redderet, et erratum lacrimis lavaret.” Would this extend to English grants from the Conqueror? One might almost suspect that his father thought so.
[516] Ib. “Filiis omnia tradam; ipsi pro salute defuncti misericorditer agant.”
[517] Ib. “Filii ejus magis injuste congregata injuste studuerunt augere quam aliquid pro salute paterna distribuere.”
[518] Ord. Vit. 659 B. “Indubitanter scio quod vere misera erit regio quæ subjecta fuerit ejus dominio. Superbus enim est et insipiens nebulo, trucique diu plectendus infortunio.” See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 705, 854. The words must of course take their share of the doubts which can hardly fail to attach to the long speech of which they form a part; but they are more likely than most parts of it to have been preserved by a trustworthy tradition. On the speech see Church, Anselm, 147.
[519] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 191.
[520] There is more than one passage in Orderic setting forth the wretched state of things in Normandy under Robert. See 664 B; 672 B, C; 675 A, B; 677 B. In the first passage he gives a personal description, not unlike that quoted in N. C. vol. iv. p. 633; “Omnes ducem Robertum mollem esse desidemque cognoscebant, et idcirco facinorosi eum despiciebant et pro libitu suo dolosas factiones agitabant. Erat quippe idem dux audax et validus, multaque laude dignus, eloquio facundus, sed in regimine sui suorumque inconsideratus, in erogando prodigus, in promittendo diffusus, ad mentiendum levis et incautus, misericors supplicibus, ad justitiam super iniquo faciendam mollis et mansuetus, in definitione mutabilis, in conversatione omnibus nimis blandus et tractabilis, ideoque perversis et insipientibus despicabilis. Corpore autem brevis et grossus, ideoque Brevis-ocrea a patre est cognominatus.” Cf. Roman de Rou, 14470.
The words about Robert’s tendency to falsehood would seem to imply, not so much deliberate lying as that kind of carelessness of truth which is quite of a piece with the rest of his character.
On the technical use of the word justice, see N. C. vol. v. pp. 157, 253, 320, 520; cf. ii. 33, 40, 173.
[521] Ord. Vit. 672 B. “Provincia tota erat dissoluta, et prædones catervatim discurrebant per vicos et per rura, nimiumque super inermes debacchabatur latrunculorum caterva. Robertus dux nullam super malefactores exercebat disciplinam, et grassatores per octo annos sub molli principe super imbecillem populum suam agitabant furiam.” Perhaps the most striking character of Robert is that which is given of him by one who had studied him in two parts of the world, Ralph of Caen in his Gesta Tancredi, c. xv. (Muratori, v. 291). The virtues of Robert were “pietas”—in the sense of pity—and “largitas.” But he carried both virtues so far that they became vices. “Pietas largitasque valde fuissent mirabiles; sed quia in neutra modum tenuit, in utraque erravit.” He goes on to describe Robert at greater length; “Siquidem misericordiam ejus immisericordem sensit Normannia, dum eo consule per impunitatem rapinarum nec homini parceret nec Deo licentia raptorum. Nam sicariis manibus, latronum gutturi, mœchorum caudæ salaci, eamdem quam suis se reverentiam debere consul arbitrabatur. Quapropter nullus ad eum vinctus in lacrimis trahebatur, quin solutus mutuas ab eo lacrimas continuo impetraret. Ideo, ut dixi, nullis sceleribus frænum, immo omnibus additum calcar ea tempestate Normannia querebatur.” Of Robert’s bounty he goes on to say that he would give any sum for a hawk or a dog; “Hujus autem pietatis sororculam eam fuisse patet largitatem, quæ accipitrem, sive canem argenti summa quantalibet comparabat.”
[522] Orderic is plain-spoken enough on this head in 672 B.
[523] Ib. “Episcopi ex auctoritate Dei exleges anathematizabant. Theologi prolatis sermonibus Dei reos admonebant. Sed his omnibus tumor et cupiditas cum satellitibus suis immoderate resistebant.”
[524] See N. C. vol. v. 46. Cf. vol. iv. p. 688.
[525] Orderic (664 B) records Robert’s doings at Alençon and Bellême, and adds, “Hoc quoque fecit Bellismæ, et omnibus aliis castellis suis, et non solum suis, sed et in vicinorum suorum, quos sibi pares dedignabatur habere, municipiis, quæ aut intromissis clientibus sibi subjugavit, aut penitus, ne sibi aliquando resistere possent, destruxit.”
[526] Ib. He adds a reflexion in his character of “Angligena.” “Sic proceres Neustriæ de munitionibus suis omnes regis custodes expulerunt, patriamque divitiis opulentam propriis viribus vicissim exspoliaverunt. Opes itaque quas Anglis aliisque gentibus violenter rapuerunt, merito latrociniis et rapinis perdiderunt.”
[527] Ord. Vit. 672 C. “Adulterina passim municipia condebantur, et ibidem filii latronum ceu catuli luporum ad dilacerandas bidentes nutriebantur.” Our Chronicler was yet more vigorous when he peopled the castles with devils and evil men, A. D. 1135. The “adulterina municipia” are the castles built without the Duke’s licence. See N. C. vol. ii. p. 193. For the German laws on the same subject, see Maurer, Einleitung, p. 24. M. le Hardy (60) amusingly mistakes the “municipia” for “quelques communes.”
[528] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 537, 638.
[529] Ord. Vit. 664 C. “Guillelmo de Britolio dedit Ibericum, ubi arx quam Albereda proavia ejus fecit fortissima est. Et Rogerio de Bellomonte, qui solebat Ibericum jussu Guillelmi regis custodire, concessit Brioniam, quod oppidum munitissimum et in corde terræ situm est.” On Ivry, see N. C. vol. i. p. 258. See Will. Gem. viii. 15, where the same story is told as by Orderic. On Brionne, see N. C. vol. ii. pp. 196, 268, 624.
[530] Ord. Vit. 664 C. “Cunctis placere studebat, cunctisque quod petebant aut dabat aut promittebat vel concedebat. Prodigus dominium patrum suorum quotidie imminuebat, insipienter tribuens unicuique quod petebat, et ipse pauperescebat, unde alios contra se roborabat.”
[531] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 709.
[532] The passages from Orderic which set forth Henry as the heir of his mother have been discussed in N. C. vol. iv. p. 854 (cf. pp. 320, 629), as also the expression of William of Malmesbury (v. 392) which implies that the Conqueror bequeathed Matilda’s lands to Henry, or directed that Matilda’s earlier bequest should take effect. The same writer also just before speaks (v. 391) of Henry, after his father’s death, as “paterna benedictione et materna hæreditate simul et multiplicibus thesauris [“gersuman unateallendlice” in the Chronicle] nixus.” Wace also says (14484),
[533] Ord. Vit. 665 C. “Opes quas habebat militibus ubertim distribuit, et tironum multitudinem pro spe et cupidine munerum sibi connexuit. Deficiente ærario Henricum fratrem suum, ut de thesauro sibi daret, requisivit. Quod ille omnino facere noluit.”
[534] N. C. vol. i. p. 170.
[535] Ib. vol. i. p. 191.
[536] Ib. vol. ii. p. 249.
[537] The purchase is thus described by Orderic (ib.); “Henricus duci tria millia librarum argenti erogavit, et ab eo totum Constantinum pagum, quæ tertia Normanniæ pars est, recepit. Sic Henricus Abrincas et Constantiam, Montemque sancti Michaëlis in periculo maris, totumque fundum Hugonis Cestrensis consulis, quod in Neustria possidebat, primitus obtinuit.” This of course does not mean any disseisin of Earl Hugh, but only the transfer of his homage from Robert to Henry. For other versions of the transaction, see Appendix I.
[538] See N. C. vol. i. p. 302.
[539] Ord. Vit. 665 C. “Constantiniensem provinciam bene gubernavit, suamque juventutem laudabiliter exercuit.” He was hardly twenty years old. So 689 C; “Constantinienses Henricus clito strenue regebat.”
[540] He is “Henricus clito [Ætheling], Constantiniensis comes” in Orderic, 672 D; “comes Henricus” in Will. Gem. viii. 3.
[541] Ord. Vit. 672 D. “In Angliam transfretavit et a fratre suo terram matris suæ requisivit.” The date is fixed by the words “postquam certus rumor de Rofensis [oppidi] deditione citra mare personuit.”
[542] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 164, 759.
[543] Ord. Vit. 672 D. “Rex Guillelmus benigniter eum, ut decuit fratrem, suscepit, et quod poterat fraterne concessit. Deinde, peractis pro quibus ierat, in autumno regi valefecit.” An actual possession of something seems implied in the words of Orderic, 689 C, “Regi Angliæ hostis erat pro terra matris suæ, qua rex eumdem in Anglia dissaisiverat, et Roberto Haimonis filio dederat.”
[544] See Appendix GG.
[545] See N. C. vol. v. p. 853; Ord. Vit. 681 A.
[546] This flight is Orderic’s own. In 673 A we have, “Baiocensis Odo, velut ignivolus draco projectus in terram.”
[547] Ib. 672 D, “Baiocensis tyrannus;” 673 A, “pessimus præsul Odo.” This last phrase comes at the beginning of Odo’s speech in the Duke’s council; at the end of it our historian has waxed milder, and tells us (674 A) how “exhortatoriam antistitis allocutionem omnes qui aderant laudaverunt.”
[548] Ord. Vit. 673 A. “Variis seditionibus commovebat Normanniam, ut sic de aliquo modo nepoti suo, a quo turpiter expulsus fuerat, machinaretur injuriam.”
[549] Orderic here (672 D) speaks only of “quidam malevoli discordiæ satores … falsa veris immiscentes.” But surely the Bishop was at their head.
[550] I think we may accept this circumstantial account of Orderic. For other versions, see Appendix I.
[551] Ord. Vit. 672 D. “Rogerius comes Scrobesburiæ, ut Robertum filium suum captum audivit, accepta a rege licentia, festinus in Neustriam venit, et omnia castella sua militari manu contra ducem munivit.”
[552] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 297.
[553] Ord. Vit. 673 A. “Ipsum nempe dux multum metuebat, et quibusdam consiliis ejus adquiescebat, quædam vero flocci pendebat.”
[554] At least there were others besides the Duke to hear and to cheer. See p. 198, note 4.
[555] Ord. Vit. 673 B. “Reminiscere patrum et proavorum, quorum magnanimitatem et virtutem pertimuit bellicosa gens Francorum.” It is curious to see how often Norman patriotism falls back on the memory of the wars with France rather than on the conquest of England. So it is in the speech of Walter of Espec before the battle of the Standard. See N. C. vol. v. p. 832.
[556] Ib. 673 D. “Hoc nimirum horrenda mors eorum attestatur, quorum nullus communi et usitato fine, ut cæteri homines, defecisse invenitur.”
[557] See Ord. Vit. 708 B.
[559] The only entry which the Chronicler has on Rufus’ wars in Maine is the short one in 1099 (more was said about the expedition of the elder William in 1063), but some parts of the Norman war are given in great detail.
[560] See N. C. vol. v. pp. 543–563, 652–655.
[561] Ib. vol. iii. pp. 182–215.
[562] Ib. vol. iv. pp. 483, 557, 827.
[563] Ib. vol. iv. p. 652.
[564] Ib. vol. iv. pp. 635, 657.
[565] N. C. vol. iv. p. 563.
[566] Ord. Vit. 673 C. “Normannorum dux et Cœnomannorum princeps nomine tenus multis annis factus est.”
[567] Ord. Vit. 531 A. “Cœnomanis, a canina rabie dicta, urbs est antiqua, et plebs ejus finitimis procax et sanguinolenta, dominisque suis semper contumax et rebellionis avida.” Following the diphthongal spelling of the text, one might rather be tempted to derive the name from the commune or κοινόν set up by its men.
[568] N. C. vol. iii. pp. 167, 203, 209–212.
[569] Ib. iv. 546–555.
[570] Ib. vol. iii. p. 197.
[571] Ib. vol. iv. pp. 545, 560, 563.
[572] Mabillon, Vet. An. 288. “Favore totius cleri ejusdem ecclesiæ decanum statuerat; in quo gradu tanto amore totius populi erga se illexit affectum, ut eo jam tempore non minorem quam episcopo omnes illi reverentiam exhiberent…. Unde factum est, ut post decessum memorati antistitis in electionem ipsius omnes unanimiter convenirent, ipsumque episcopatu dignissimum voce consona proclamarent.”
[573] Ord. Vit. 531 B. “‘Ecce in capella tua est quidam pauper clericus, sed nobilis et bene morigeratus. Huic præsulatum commenda in Dei timore, quia dignus est (ut æstimo) tali honore.’ Regi autem percunctanti quis esset, Samson respondit: ‘Hoëlus dicitur, et est genere Brito; sed humilis est, et revera bonus homo.’” On Samson himself, see N. C. vol. iv. p. 641.
[574] N. C. vol. iv. p. 478.
[575] Ord. Vit. 531 C. “Ei curam et seculare jus Cœnomanensis episcopatus commisit” I have elsewhere spoken of this kind of document in England (N. C. vol. ii. p. 588). Only it would seem that in England the King either acted wholly of himself or else confirmed an election already made by the Chapter. Here the Chapter, as in later times, elects on the King’s recommendation.
[576] Ib. “Decretum regis clero insinuatum est, et præfati clerici bonæ vitæ testimonium ab his qui noverunt ventilatum est. Pro tam pura et simplici electione devota laus a fidelibus Deo reddita est, et electus pastor ad caulas ovium suarum ab episcopis et reliquis fidelibus, quibus hoc a rege jussum fuerat, honorifice perductus est.” The regale, or rather ducale, comes out strongly in these matters, as it always does in Normandy.
[577] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 194.
[578] Vet. An. 290. “Celeberrimum est enim Cenomannensis ecclesiæ præsulem post Turonensem archiepiscopum totius Turonensis diœceseos obtinere primatum.” Diœcesis here stands for province, as parochia constantly stands for diocese.
[579] Vet. An. 288. “Quia propter contentionem quæ inter Vvillum regem Anglorum, et Fulconem Andegavorum comitem de eodem episcopatu exorta erat, Radulfus Turonorum archiepiscopus Turonis eum ordinare non potuit, ipsius assensu atque præcepto omniumque suffraganeorum ejus, cum magno honore ordinatus est in Rotomago civitate, a domno Willelmo ejusdem urbis archiepiscopo xi. Kalend. Maii, anno ab Incarnatione Domini millesimo lxxxv.”
[580] See Appendix MM.
[581] Vet. An. 290. “Cum fames populum oppressisset, essetque impossibile unius copiis generalem afflictorum indigentiam sustentari, ex communi cleri plebisque consilio, aurum et argentum quod erat in tabula altaris sanctorum martyrum Gervasii et Protasii pius temerator accepit; illudque fideli dispensatione pauperibus erogavit.” Compare the action of Abbot Leofric of Saint Alban’s, and the “prædictæ rationes” which led him so to act, together with the argument of Matthew Paris with regard to its lawfulness; Gest. Abb. i. 29, 30.
[582] See N. C. vol. iii. pp. 159, 465.
[583] Ib. vol. iv. p. 659.
[584] See Appendix KK.
[585] Ord. Vit. 674 B. “Paganus de Monte Dublabelis, cum aliis contumacibus castrum Balaonem tenebat et venienti duci cum turmis suis acriter resistebat.”
[586] N. C. vol. iii. p. 122.
[587] Ord. Vit. 674 B. “Post plurima damna utriusque partis, Balaonenses pacem cum duce fecerunt.”
[588] Ord. Vit. 674 D. “Habitatoribus hujus municipii quies et pax pene semper defuit, finitimique Cenomannenses, seu Normanni insistunt. Scopulosum montem anfractus Sartæ fluminis ex tribus partibus ambit, in quo sanctus Cerenicus venerandus confessor tempore Milehardi Sagiorum pontificis habitavit.”
[589] In local belief, Saint Cenery on his own ground seems to have supplanted the Archangel himself as the weigher of souls.
[590] On surnames of places, see N. C. vol. v. p. 573.
[591] Ib. vol. ii. p. 233.
[592] Ord. Vit. 674 D. “Carolo Simplice regnante, dum Hastingus Danus cum gentilium phalange Neustriam depopulatus est, sanctum corpus a fidelibus in castrum Theodorici translatum est et dispersis monachis monasterium destructum.” Yet at a later time (see Ord. Vit. 706 D) Saint Cenery still possessed an arm of the eponymous saint, though monks of Seez, not of Saint Cenery, were its keepers; and there is still a bone or fragment of a bone under the high altar of the parish church which claims to be a relic of him.
[593] Ib. “Sanguinarii prædones ibi speluncam latronum condiderunt,” “scelesti habitatores,” &c.
[594] Unless Orderic’s words just quoted are mere rhetoric, we must infer that the site of the castle, and not the site of the present church, had been the site of the forsaken monastery. Well suited as the whole peninsula was for the purposes of a castle, the actual isthmus, where three small knolls rise above the general level of the hill, must have been the most tempting spot of all. On two of the knolls remains of its masonry are still to be seen, and the outworks reach far down the hill on its western side. The place seems to have been a simple fortress, with no town or village, beyond such houses as may have grown up around the castle.
[595] Orderic tells the story, 674 C.
[596] See the extract in the last page.
[597] N. C. vol. iv. p. 184.
[598] N. C. vol. iii. p. 169.
[599] Ord. Vit. 674 D. “Ibi familia Roberti Belesmensis erat, cui Robertus Quadrellus, acerrimus miles et multo vigore conspicuus, præerat, qui hortatu Rogerii comitis obsidentibus fortiter obstabat.” The modern form of “Quadrellus” would be “Carrel.” “Fulcherius Quarel” appears among the knights of Perche bearing harness under Philip Augustus; Duchèsne, p. 1032.
[600] Ord. Vit. 674 D. “Præfatus municeps jussu irati ducis protinus oculis privatus est. Aliis quoque pluribus qui contumaciter ibidem restiterant principi Normanniæ [this almost sounds like the wording of an indictment] debilitatio membrorum inflicta est ex sententia curiæ.”
[601] N. C. vol. i. pp. 445, 476.
[602] This is told by Orderic, 674 D. He adds, “Ille fere xxxvi annis postmodum tenuit, muris et vallis zetisque munivit, et moriens Guillermo et Roberto filiis suis dereliquit.” Yet he lost it for a season to the old enemy. See 706 D.
[603] Ord. Vit. 675 A. “Municipes Alencionis et Bellesmi aliarumque munitionum, ut audierunt quam male contigerit Roberto Quadrello et complicibus qui cum eo fuerant, valde territi sunt, et ut debitas venienti duci munitiones redderent, consilium inierunt.” But the words which immediately follow are; “Verum Robertus ab incœpta virtute cito defecit, et mollitie suadente ad tectum et quietem avide recurrit, exercitumque suum, ut quisque ad sua repedaret, dimisit.” This leaves it not quite clear, whether he stayed to receive in person the surrenders which were ready for him.
[604] The site of the true castle of Bellême may easily be distinguished from the later fortress. The native home of Mabel stands quite apart from the hill on which the town and the later castle stand, being cut off from it by art. The chapel is but little altered, and has a crypt, the way down to which reminds one of Saint Zeno and other Italian churches.
[606] Ord. Vit. 675 A. “Per dicaces legatos a duce pacem filiique sui absolutionem postulans, multa falso pollicitus est.” Robert, he adds, “qui improvidus erat et instabilis, ad lapsum facilis, ad tenendum justitiæ rigorem mollis, ex insperato frivolis pactionibus infidorum adquievit.” It is now that Orderic gives us his full picture of Robert of Bellême and his doings.
[607] Ord. Vit. 675 B. “Liberatus intumuit, jussa ducis atque minas minus appretiavit, præsentisque memor injuriæ diutinam multiplicemque vindictam exercuit.”
[608] Ib. 681 D. “Tunc Edgarus Adelinus, et Robertus Bellesmensis, atque Guillelmus de Archis monachus Molismensis præcipui ducis consiliarii erant”—an oddly assorted company. This is in 1090.
[609] Ib. 677 A. “Optimatum suorum supplicationibus adquiescens, Henricum fratrem suum concessit, et a vinculis in quibus cum Roberto Belesmensi constrictus fuerat absolvit.”
[610] Ib. 689 C. “Constantienses Henricus clito strenue regebat, rigidusque contra fratres suos persistebat. Nam contra ducem inimicitias agitabat pro injusta captione quam nudiustertius, ut prædictum est, ab illo perpessus fuerat. Regi nihilominus Angliæ hostis erat pro terra matris suæ.”
[611] Ord. Vit. 689 C. “Oppida sua constanter firmabat, et fautores sibi de proceribus patris sui plurimos callide conciliabat. Abrincas et Cæsarisburgum et Constantiam atque Guabreium, aliasque munitiones possidebat, et Hugonem comitem et Ricardum de Radveriis, aliosque Constantinienses, præter Robertum de Molbraio, secum habuit, et collectis undique viribus prece pretioque quotidie crescebat.”