[612] Ord. Vit. 680 B. “Turmas optimatum adscivit, et Guentoniæ congregatis quæ intrinsecus ruminabat sic ore deprompsit.” The Chronicler tells us, under 1090, how “se cyng wæs smægende hu he mihte wrecon his broðer Rodbeard swiðost swencean, and Normandige of him gewinnan.” The custom of holding the Easter Gemót at Winchester seems to fix this assembly to Easter. 1090.
The continuance of the three yearly assemblies is well marked by William of Malmesbury in the Life of Wulfstan (Ang. Sac. iii. 257); “Rex Willelmus consuetudinem induxerat [that is, he went on with what had been done T. R. E.], quam successores aliquamdiu tritam consenescere permisere. Ea erat, ut ter in anno cuncti optimates ad curiam convenirent, de necessariis regni tractaturi, simulque visuri regis insigne, quomodo iret gemmato fastigiatus diademate.”
[613] Ord. Vit. 680 C. “Commoneo vos omnes qui patris mei homines fuistis et feudos vestros in Normannia et Anglia de illo tenuistis, ut sine dolo ad probitatis opus mihi viriliter unanimiter faveatis.”
[614] Ib. “Colligite, quæso, concilium, prudenter inite consilium, sententiam proferte, quid in hoc agendum sit discrimine. Mittam, si laudatis, exercitum in Normanniam, et injuriis quas mihi frater meus sine causa machinatus est talionem rependam. Ecclesiæ Dei subveniam, viduas et orphanos inermes protegam, fures et sicarios gladio justitiæ puniam.”
[615] See N. C. vol. ii. pp. 93, 95.
[616] Ord. Vit. 680 C. “His dictis omnes assensum dederunt et magnanimitatem regis collaudaverunt.”
[619] Plutarch, Reg. et Imp. Apoph. Philip. 15.
[620] Æsch. Pers. 861;
[621] Chron. Petrib. 1090. “Ðeah þurh his geapscipe, oððe þurh gærsuma he begeat þone castel aet S[~c]e Waleri and þa hæfenan, and swa he begeat þone æt Albemare.” This is followed by William of Malmesbury, iv. 307, who translates the passage, “Castrum Sancti Walerici, et portum vicinum. et oppidum quod Albamarla vocatur, sollertia sua acquisivit, pecunia custodes corrumpens.” Florence however calls it “castellum Walteri de Sancto Walarico.” This might be understood of any castle belonging to Walter of Saint Valery; and the change might be taken either as having the force of a correction or as showing that Florence did not understand what he found in the Chronicles. I do not find any mention of the taking of Saint Valery, or of any possession of Walter of Saint Valery, anywhere except in the English writers. Walter, who is more than once mentioned by Orderic (724 B, 729 D) as a crusader, was of the house of the Advocates of Saint Valery of whom I have spoken elsewhere (N. C. vol. iii. pp. 131, 393).
[622] N. C. vol. iv. pp. 557, 643.
[623] Ib. vol. iii. p. 157.
[624] Ib. vol. ii. p. 632.
[625] Ord. Vit. 681 A. “Primus Normannorum Stephanus de Albamarla filius Odonis Campaniæ comitis regi adhæsit, et regiis sumptibus castellum suum super Aucium flumen vehementer munivit, in quo validissimam regis familiam contra ducem suscepit.” Florence calls it “castellum Odonis de Albamarno.”
[626] Chron. Petrib. 1090. “And þarinne he sette his cnihtas, and hi dydon hearmes uppon þam lande on hergunge and on bærnete.”
[627] N. C. vol. iii. p. 153; vol. iv. p. 280.
[628] Ib. vol. iii. p. 226.
[629] Ib. vol. iii. p. 93.
[630] Domesday, 18. “Rex W. dedit comiti [de Ow] castellariam de Hastinges.”
[631] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 152.
[633] N. C. vol. iv. p. 733; vol. v. p. 560.
[634] As Barrow Gurney in Somerset.
[635] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 121.
[636] Ord. Vit. 681 A. “Gornacum et Firmitatem et Goisleni fontem, aliasque munitiones suas regi tradidit, finitimosque suos regiæ parti subjicere studuit.”
[637] N. C. vol. iv. pp. 39, 737.
[638] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 201.
[640] Will. Gem. vii. 4. See N. C. vol. i. p. 465. The kindred is also implied in the fact that William of Breteuil was the nephew of both Ralph and William. See Ord. Vit. 688 B, D, and below, p. 266.
[641] Ord. Vit. 687 D. “Perstrepentibus undique præliis in Neustria, securitate pacis perfrui non poterat Ebroicensis provincia. Illic nempe plus quam civile bellum inter opulentos fratres exortum est, et maligna superbarum æmulatione mulierum malitia nimis augmentata est. Heluisa namque comitissa contra Isabelem de Conchis pro quibusdam contumeliosis verbis irata est, comitemque Guillelmum cum baronibus suis in arma per iram commovere totis viribus conata est. Sic per suspiciones et litigia feminarum in furore succensa sunt fortium corda virorum, quorum manibus paulo post multus mutuo cruor effusus est mortalium, et per villas et vicos multarum incensa sunt tecta domorum.”
[642] She was the daughter of William the First, Count of Auxerre and Nevers, by his first wife Ermengarde, daughter of Reginald Count of Tonnerre. See Art de Vérifier les Dates, ii. 559.
[643] Orderic has two pictures of her. In the second (834 B), drawn a few years later than our present time, when Count William “natura senioque aliquantum hebescebat,” we read, “Uxor ejus totum consulatum regebat, quæ in sua sagacitate plus quam oporteret confidebat. Pulcra quidem et facunda erat, et magnitudine corporis pene omnes feminas in comitatu Ebroarum consistentes excellebat, et eximia nobilitate, utpote illustris Guillelmi Nivernensis comitis filia, satis pollebat. Hæc nimirum consilio baronum mariti sui relicto, æstimationem suam præferebat, et ardua nimis secularibus in rebus plerumque arripiebat atque immoderata temptare properabat.” Elsewhere (688 A), he says, “Ambæ mulieres quæ talia bella ciebant, loquaces et animosæ, ac forma elegantes erant, suisque maritis imperabant, subditos homines premebant, variisque modis terrebant.” When Orderic (576 C), recording Isabel’s widowhood and religious profession, speaks of her as “letalis lasciviæ cui nimis in juventute servierat pœnitens,” the word need not be taken in the worst sense. He uses (864 A) the same kind of language of Juliana daughter of Henry the First, who, whatever she was as a daughter, seems to have been a very good wife and mother.
[644] Ord. Vit. 834 B. “Pro feminea procacitate Rodberto comiti de Mellento aliisque Normannis invidiosa erat.”
[645] Ord. Vit. 576 B, C.
[646] Ib. 834 C.
[647] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 605, 643.
[648] Ord. Vit. 688 A. “Magna in eisdem morum diversitas erat. Heluisa quidem solers erat et facunda, sed atrox et avara. Isabel vero dapsilis et audax atque jocosa, ideoque coessentibus amabilis et grata. In expeditione inter milites, ut miles, equitabat armata, et loricatis equitibus ac spiculatis satellitibus non minori præstabat audacia quam decus Italiæ Turni manipularibus virgo Camilla.” He goes on to liken her to Penthesileia and all the other Amazons.
[649] Ib. “Radulfus Robertum ducem adivit, querelas damnorum quæ a contribulibus suis pertulerat intimavit, et herile adjutorium ab eo poposcit; sed frustra, qui nihil obtinuit.”
[650] Ib. B. “Hinc alias conversus est, et utile sibi patrocinium quærere compulsus est. Regem Angliæ per legatos suos interpellatur, eique sua infortunia mandavit, et si sibi suffragaretur, se et omnia sua permisit. His auditis rex gavisus est, et efficax adminiculum indigenti pollicitus est. Deinde Stephano comiti et Gerardo de Gornaco, aliisque tribunis et centurionibus qui præerant in Normannia familiis ejus, mandavit ut Radulfum totis adjuvarent nisibus et oppida ejus munirent necessariis omnibus.”
[651] Ord. Vit. 681 A. “Robertus Aucensium comes, et Gauterius Gifardus et Radulfus de Mortuomari, et pene omnes qui trans Sequanam usque ad mare habitabant, Anglicis conjuncti sunt.”
[652] Ib. “De regiis opibus ad muniendas domos suas armis et satellitibus copiosam pecuniam receperunt.”
[653] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 644.
[654] Ord. Vit. 681 A. “Robertus dux contra tot hostes repagulum paravit, filiamque suam quam de pellice habuerat, Heliæ filio Lamberti de Sancto Sidonio conjugem dedit.”
[655] N. C. vol, i. p. 253.
[656] Will. Gem. viii. 37.
[657] Ord. Vit. 681 B. “Archas cum Buris et adjacente provincia in maritagio tribuit, ut adversariis resisteret Calegiique comitatum defenderet. Ille vero jussa viriliter complere cœpit.”
[658] Neufchâtel-en-Bray, famous for cheeses.
[659] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 121.
[660] Ord. Vit. 681 B. “Roberto duci et Guillelmo filio ejus semper fidelis fuit, et sub duobus regibus Guillelmo et Henrico multa pertulit, labores videlicet ac exhæreditationem, damna, exsilium, ac multa pericula.” See N. C. vol. v. pp. 84, 182.
[661] N. C. vol. ii. p. 254.
[662] N. C. vol. iv. p. 700.
[663] Will. Malms. iv. 307. “Domino suo regi Franciæ per nuntios violentiam fratris exposuit, suppetias orans. Et ille quidem iners, et quotidianam crapulam ructans, ad bellum singultiens ingluvie veniebat.”
[664] The place is not mentioned in the Chronicles nor in any other of our accounts, except by Robert of Torigny in the Continuation of William of Jumièges, viii. 3. He tells his story backwards in a very confused way, and mixes up the events of this year and the next; “Facta est itaque tandem inter eos [Robertum et Willelmum] apud Cadomum, ut diximus, adminiculante Philippo rege Francorum, qui in auxilium ducis contra Willelmum regem apud oppidum Auci ingenti Anglorum et Normannorum exercitu tunc morantem venerat, qualiscumque concordia.” This means the peace of 1092, when William was in Normandy, and when Philip certainly did not come to Eu. On the other hand, William was certainly not at Eu in 1091. But as Philip did in 1091 come to some castle which must have been either Eu, Aunde, or Gournay, we may perhaps accept this as evidence in favour of Eu.
[665] Chron. Petrib. 1090. “Se cyng Willelm of Englalande sende to Philippe Francena cynge, and he for his lufan oððe for his mycele gersuma, forlet swa his man þone eorl Rodbeard and his land, and ferde ongean to France, and let heom swa weorðan.” The spirit is lost in the Latin of Florence; “Quod cum regi Willelmo nuntiatum esset, non modica pecuniæ quantitati regi Philippo occulte transmissa, ut obsidione dimissa, domum rediret, flagitavit et imperavit.”
[666] Will. Malms. iv. 307. “Occurrerunt magna pollicenti nummi regis Angliæ, quibus infractus cingulum solvit et convivium repetiit.”
[667] Macaulay, Hist. Eng. iv. 265. “The Elector of Saxony … had, together with a strong appetite for subsidies, a great desire to be a member of the most select and illustrious orders of knighthood.” For this last passion there was as yet no room, but William Rufus did a good deal towards bringing about the state of things in which it arose.
[668] N. C. vol. ii. p. 318.
[669] So are the Norman reigns of Geoffrey Plantagenet and his son Henry. But their position in Normandy was quite different from Robert’s, while they claimed England in quite a different sense from the claims of Robert, and had—the son at least had—partisans there.
[670] N. C. vol. v. pp. 85, 95, 96.
[671] The character of this Count Geoffrey (son of the Rotrou who figures in the war of the Conqueror and his son, N. C. vol. iv. pp. 637, 639) as drawn by Orderic (675 D; see above, p. 183) is worth studying; “Erat idem consul magnanimus, corpore pulcher, et callidus, timens Deum et ecclesiæ cultor devotus, clericorum pauperumque Dei defensor strenuus, in pace quietus et amabilis, bonisque pollebat moribus.” Yet he was also “in bello gravis et fortunatus, finitimisque intolerabilis regibus et inimicus [cis?] omnibus.” Moreover “multas villas combussit multasque prædas hominesque adduxit.” The truth is that the curse of private warfare drew the best men, no less than the worst, into the common whirlpool; and, once in arms, they could not keep back their followers from the usual excesses, even if any such thought occurred to themselves. Cf. Ord. Vit. 890 B for another mention of Geoffrey.
[673] Ord. Vit. 685 A, B. This Gilbert is son of Eginulf, who died at Senlac (N. C. vol. iii. p. 503, note), and brother of Richer, who died before Sainte-Susanne (N. C. vol. iv. p. 659). His sister Matilda married Robert of Mowbray.
[674] Ib. 684 D, 685 C, D; Will. Gem. viii. 15. The offender, a man of Belial, was Ascelin surnamed Goel. The marriage was blessed or cursed with the birth of seven sons, all, according to both our authorities, of evil report.
[675] See above, p. 194. The bandying of words, as given by Orderic (686 A), is worth notice; “Robertus comes Mellenti muneribus et promissis Guillelmi regis turgidus de Anglia venit, Rothomagum ad ducem accessit, et ab eo arcem Ibreii procaciter repetiit. Cui dux respondit, Æquipotens mutuum patri tuo dedi Brioniam nobile castrum pro arce Ibreii. Comes Mellenti dixit, Istud mutuum non concedo, sed quod pater tuus patri meo dedit habere volo. Alioqui per sanctum Nigasium faciam quod tibi displicebit. Iratus igitur dux illico eum comprehendi et in carcere vinciri præcepit, et Brioniam Roberto Balduini filio custodiendam commisit.” This Robert in 686 D sets forth his pedigree, as grandson of Count Gilbert the guardian of the Conqueror (see N. C. vol. ii. pp. 195, 196). He was nephew of Richard of Bienfaite (see above, p. 68), the founder of the house of Clare.
[676] He is now brought in as “callidus senex.”
[677] Ord. Vit. 686 C. The Duke speaks of the old Roger’s “magna legalitas,” “loyalty,” according to its etymology. Is it characteristic of the “callidus senex” that he addresses the Duke as “vestra sublimitas,” “vestra serenitas,” and thanks him for imprisoning his son, “temerarium juvenem”? Yet it was twenty-four years since the exploits of Robert of Meulan at Senlac.
[678] Ib. D. “Ob hoc ingens pecuniæ pondus promisit.”
[679] Ib. 687 A.
[680] Ib. A, B. “Tunc calor ingens incipientis æstatis, et maxima siccitas erant, quæ forinsecus expugnantes admodum juvabant. Callidi enim obsessores in fabrili fornace quæ in promptu structa fuerat, ferrum missilium calefaciebant, subitoque super tectum principalis aulæ in munimento jaciebant, et sic ferrum candens sagittarum atque pilorum in arida veterum lanugine imbricum totis nisibus figebant.”
[681] Ib. “Sic Robertus dux ab hora nona Brioniam ante solis occasum obtinuit, quam Guillelmus pater ejus cum auxilio Henrici Francorum regis sibi vix in tribus annis subigere potuit.” See N. C. vol. ii. p. 268.
[683] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 145, 451.
[684] Ib. vol. v. pp. 466, 474.
[685] Ord. Vit. 689 D. “Hujus nimirum factionis incentor Conanus Gisleberti Pilati filius erat, qui inter cives, utpote ditissimus eorum, præcellebat. Is cum rege de tradenda civitate pactum fecerat, et immensis opibus ditatus in urbe vigebat, ingentemque militum et satellitum familiam contra ducem turgidus jugiter pascebat.”
[686] Ib. 691 A. “Guillelmus Ansgerii filius, Rodomensium ditissimus.” This is after Conan’s death.
[687] Ib. 689 D. “Cives Rothomagi regiis muneribus et promissis illecti de mutando principe tractaverunt, ac ut Normanniæ metropolim cum somnolento duce regi proderent consiliati sunt.”
[688] Ib. “Maxima pars urbanorum eidem adquiescebant. Nonnulli tamen pro fide duci servanda resistebant, et opportunis tergiversationibus detestabile facinus impediebant.”
[689] Ord. Vit. 689 D. “Conanus de suorum consensu contribulium securus, terminum constituit.” Orderic most likely means nothing in particular by this odd word “contribules.” But the later history of free cities supplies a certain temptation to begin thinking of gilds, Zünfte, Geschlechter, abbayes, and alberghi.
[690] Ib. “Dux, ubi tantam contra se machinationem comperiit, amicos in quibus confidebat ad se convocavit.”
[691] Ord. Vit. 690 A. “Henricus igitur primus ei suppetias venit, et primo subsidium fratri contulit, deinde vindictam viriliter in proditorem exercuit.”
[692] Ib. “Fidelibus suis desolationem sui cita legatione intimavit.”
[693] Ib. See above, p. 76, and N. C. vol. iv. p. 654.
[694] See above, p. 242. He was killed next year. See Ord. Vit. 685 B.
[695] This earlier castle of the dukes must be carefully distinguished from the Vieux Palais, which, though it is no longer standing, still lives in street nomenclature. This last was the work of our Henry the Fifth, and lay to the west, between the Roman wall and the wall of Saint Lewis.
On this side of the city the modern street lately called Rue de l’Impératrice, and now promoted to the name of Rue Jeanne Darc, is not a bad guide. It runs a little outside of the Roman wall and may fairly represent its fosse. So the other great modern street called Rue de l’Hôtel de Ville, and now Rue Thiers, runs a little further outside the northern wall of the ancient city, which is marked by the Rue de la Ganterie.
[696] On this side again a modern street helps us. The Rue de la République, lately Rue Impériale, marks, though less accurately than the others, the eastern side of the city. The Rebecq may be traced for a little way, but it presently loses itself, or at least is lost to the inquirer.
[697] Ord. Vit. 690 B. See below, p. 255.
[698] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 203.
[699] “Archimonasterium” is a title of Saint Ouen’s. See Neustria Pia, 1.
[700] See N. C. vol. ii. pp. 183, 468.
[701] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 704.
[702] The “Tour de la Grosse Horloge” and the gate close by are conspicuous features in that quarter of Rouen. The noble Palace of Justice was not even represented in the times with which we have to do.
[703] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 706.
[704] Neustria Pia, 611.
[705] Ord. Vit. 690 A. “Ad Calcegiensem portam properavit.”
[706] Ord. Vit. 690 A. “Jampridem quidam de regiis satellitibus in urbem introierant, et parati, rebellionem tacite præstolantes, seditionis moram ægre ferebant.”
[707] Ib. B. “Dum militaris et civilis tumultus exoritur, nimius hinc et inde clamor attollitur, et tota civitas pessime confunditur, et in sua viscera crudeliter debacchatur. Plures enim civium contra cognatos vicinosque suos ad utramque portam dimicabant, dum quædam pars duci, et altera regi favebant…. Dum perturbationis ingens tumultus cuncta confunderet, et nesciretur quam quisque civium sibi partem eligeret.”
[708] Ib. B. “Dux ubi furentes, ut dictum est, in civitate advertit, cum Henrico fratre suo et commanipularibus suis de arce prodiit, suisque velociter suffragari appetiit.”
[709] Ord. Vit. 690 B. “Ne perniciem inhonestam stolido incurreret, cunctisque Normannis perenne opprobrium fieret.”
[710] Ib. “Fugiens cum paucis per orientalem portam egressus est, et mox a suburbanis vici, qui Mala-palus dicitur, fideliter ut specialis herus susceptus est.”
[711] Ord. Vit. 690 B. “Cimba parata Sequanam intravit, et relicto post terga conflictu trepidus ad Ermentrudis-villam navigavit. Tunc ibidem a Guillelmo de Archis Molismensi monacho susceptus est, ibique in basilica sanctæ Mariæ de Prato finem commotæ seditionis præstolatus est.” On this William of Arques, see above, p. 220.
William of Malmesbury (v. 392) has quite another account, in which the Duke’s flight is not spoken of, and in which Henry at least urges him to action; “Regios eo interdiu venientes, qui dolo civium totam jampridem occupaverant urbem, probe expulit [Henricus], admonito per nuntios comite ut ille a fronte propelleret quos ipse a tergo urgeret.” This account does not come in its chronological place, but in William’s account of the early life of Henry. And he misconceives the date, placing the revolt of Rouen after the coming of William into Normandy; “Willelmo veniente in Normanniam uti se de fratre Roberto ulcisceretur, comiti obsequelam suam exhibuit [Henricus], Rotomagi positus.”
[712] Ord. Vit. 690 C. “Regia cohors territa fugit, latebrasque silvarum quæ in vicinio erant, avide poscens, delituit, et subsidio noctis discrimen mortis seu captionis difficulter evasit.”
[713] On the different versions of the death of Conan in Orderic and in William of Malmesbury, see Appendix K.
[714] Ord. Vit. 690 C. “Considera, Conane, quam pulcram tibi patriam conatus es subjicere.”
[715] Ord. Vit. 690 C. “En, ad meridiem delectabile parcum patet oculis tuis. En saltuosa regio silvestribus abundans feris. Ecce Sequana piscosum flumen Rotomagensem murum allambit, navesque pluribus mercimoniis refertas huc quotidie devehit.”
[716] Ib. D. “En ex alia parte civitas populosa, mœnibus sacrisque templis et urbanis ædibus speciosa, cui jure a priscis temporibus subjacet Normannia tota.”
[717] Ib. “Pro redemptione mei domino meo aurum dabo et argentum, quantum reperire potero in thesauris meis meorumque parentum, et pro culpa infidelitatis fidele usque ad mortem rependam servitium.”
[718] Ord. Vit. 690 C. “Per animam matris meæ, traditori nulla erit redemptio, sed debitæ mortis acceleratio.”
[719] Ib. “Conanus gemens clamavit alta voce; Pro amore, inquit, Dei, confessionem mihi permitte.”
[720] Ib. “Henricus acer fraternæ ultor injuriæ præ ira infremuit.” Simple wrath is an attribute which we are more used to assign to Henry the Second, with his hereditary touch of the Angevin devil, than to the calm, deliberate, Henry the First. Yet we can understand how, through the stages of the “ironica insultatio,” as Orderic calls Henry’s discourse to Conan, a determination taken in cold blood might grow into the fierce delight of destruction at the actual moment of carrying it out.
[721] See Appendix K.
[722] Ord. Vit. 691 A. “Locus ipse, ubi vindicta hujusmodi perpetrata est, saltus Conani usque in hodiernam diem vocitatus est.”
[724] Ord. Vit. 691 A. “Robertus dux, ut de prato ad arcem rediit et quæ gesta fuerant comperit, pietate motus infortunio civium condoluit, sed, fortiori magnatorum censura prævalente, reis parcere nequivit.”
[725] Ord. Vit. 691 A. “Robertus Belesmensis et Guillelmus Bretoliensis affuerunt, et Rodomanos incolas velut exteros prædones captivos abduxerunt, et squaloribus carceris graviter afflixerunt…. Sic Belesmici et Aquilini ceterique ducis auxiliarii contra se truculenter sæviunt, civesque metropolis Neustriæ vinculatos attrahunt, cunctisque rebus spoliatos, ut barbaros hostes male affligunt.”
[726] Ib. “A Guillelmo Bretoliensi ducitur captivus, et post longos carceris squalores redimit se librarum tribus millibus.”
[728] Ib. 688 B. “Mense Novembri Guillelmus comes ingentem exercitum aggregavit, et Conchas expugnare cœpit.” One would like to know what number passed for “ingens exercitus” in this kind of warfare.
[729] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 713.
[730] Ib. p. 713.
[731] Ord. Vit. 834 C. “Prædictus comes et Heluisa comitissa dangionem regis apud Ebroas funditus dejecerunt.”
[732] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 204.
[733] On the foundation of the abbey of Conches or Castellion, see Neustria Pia, 567, and the passages from Orderic and William of Jumièges there cited. William (vii. 22) puts it among the monasteries founded in the reign of William the Great, and calls its founder Ralph. But Orderic (460 A) attributes the foundation to a Roger, seemingly the old Roger who came back from Spain. I can hardly accept the suggestion in Neustria Pia that the Roger spoken of is the young Roger of whom we shall presently hear, the son of Ralph and Isabel, and that he was joint-founder with his father Ralph.
Orderic twice (493 B, 576 A) distinguishes Ralph of Conches, the husband of Isabel, from his father Roger of Toesny; “Rodulphus de Conchis, Rogerii Toenitis filius,” “Radulfus de Conchis, filius Rogerii de Toënia.”
[734] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 534.
[735] Will. Gem. vii. 22.
[736] Ord. Vit. 688 B.
[737] Ord. Vit. 688 B. “Dum cœnobialem curiam beati Petri Castellionis invaderet, nec pro reverentia monachorum, qui cum fletibus vociferantes Dominum interpellabant, ab incœptis desisteret, hostili telo repente percussus est, ipsoque die cum maximo luctu utriusque partis mortuus est.” He is described as “formidabilis marchisius.”
[738] Ib. C. “Radulfus pervalidum agmen de suis, et de familia regis habuit.”
[739] Ib. “Cupidis tironibus foras erumpere dixit, Armamini et estote parati, sed de munitione non exeatis donec ego jubeam vobis. Sinite hostes præda onerari, et discedentes mecum viriliter insectamini. Illi autem principi suo, qui probissimus et militiæ gnarus erat, obsecundarunt, et abeuntes cum præda pedetentim persecuti sunt.” Cf. the same kind of policy on the part of the Conqueror, N. C. vol. iii. p. 152.
[740] Ib. “Ebroicenses erubescentes quod guerram superbe cœperant et inde maximi pondus detrimenti cum dedecore pertulerant, conditioni pacis post triennalem guerram adquieverunt.” The peace was clearly made about the end of 1090 or the very beginning of 1091. The three years of war must therefore be reckoned from the death of the Conqueror, or from some time not long after.
[741] Ord. Vit. 688 D. He had at least two natural children, a daughter Isabel, of whom we have already heard (see above, p. 243), and a son Eustace, who succeeded his father in the teeth of all collateral claimants. Eustace is best known as the husband of Henry the First’s natural daughter Juliana (see N. C. vol. v. p. 157, note), in whose story we come again to the ever-disputed tower of Ivry. See Will. Gem. viii. 15; Ord. Vit. 577 B; 810 C; 848 B, C.
[742] Ib. “Ebroicensis quoque comes eundem Rogerium, utpote nepotem suum, consulatus sui heredem constituit.” This was to the prejudice of his nephew Amalric of Montfort, son of his whole sister Agnes, and half-brother of Isabel. After Count William’s death in 1108, the strivings after his county were great and long, till Amalric recovered full possession in 1119. Ord. Vit. 863 C.
[743] Ib. “Pretiosis vestibus quibus superbi nimis insolescunt, uti dedignabatur, et in omni esse suo sese modeste regere nitebatur.” This must be taken in connexion with Orderic’s various protests against the vain fashions of the day, especially the great one in p. 682.
[744] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 219; iv. p. 448.
[745] Ord. Vit. 688 D. “Quondam milites otiosi simul in Aula Conchis ludebant et colloquebantur, et coram domina Elisabeth de diversis thematibus, ut mos est hujusmodi, confabulabantur.” Then follows this beautiful story of the three dreams.
[746] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 130.
[747] Ord. Vit. 689 A. “Dextera sua me benedicentem, signumque crucis super caput meum benigniter facientem.”
[748] He married their daughter Godehild, the former wife of Robert, son of Henry Earl of Warwick. See Ord. Vit. 576 C; Will. Gem. viii. 41. The strange story of his two later marriages does not concern us, and the way in which he became Count of Edessa was hardly becoming in a holy warrior.
[749] See N. C. vol. v. pp. 94, 819, and Appendix HH.
[750] Ord. Vit. 689 C.
[751] Ib. 784 B.
[752] Ib. 834 C. There is a singular contrast in the words with which Orderic disposes of the dead bodies of the Count and the Countess; “Comitissa nempe defuncta prius apud Nogionem quiescit; comes vero, postmodum apoplexia percussus, sine viatico decessit, et cadaver ejus cum patre suo Fontinellæ computrescit.”
[754] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 496.
[755] Ord. Vit. 691 A, B. “Ecce quibus ærumnis superba profligatur Normannia, quæ nimis olim victa gloriabatur Anglia, et naturalibus regni filiis trucidatis sive fugatis usurpabat eorum possessiones et imperia. Ecce massam divitiarum quas aliis rapuit eisque pollens ad suam perniciem insolentur tumuit, nunc non ad delectamentum sui sed potius ad tormentum miserabiliter distrahit.” He has an earlier reflexion to the same effect (664 B); “Sic proceres Neustriæ … patriam divitiis opulentam propriis viribus vicissim exspoliaverunt, opesque quas Anglis aliisque gentibus violenter rapuerunt merito latrociniis et rapinis perdiderunt.”
[756] Ord. Vit. 691 A, B. “Soli gaudent, sed non diu nec feliciter, qui furari seu prædari possunt pertinaciter.”
[757] Ib. “In diebus illis non erat rex neque dux Hierusalem, aureisque vitulis Jeroboam rebellis plebs immolabat in Dan et Bethel.” We are used to this kind of analogy whenever any one goes after a wrong Pope; but Normandy, with all its crimes, seems to have been perfectly orthodox.
[758] Ib. C. “Multa intueor in divina pagina quæ subtiliter coaptata nostri temporis eventui videntur similia. [Every age, except perhaps the eighteenth, has made the same remark.] Ceterum allegoricas allegationes et idoneas humanis moribus interpretationes studiosis rimandas relinquam, simplicemque Normannicarum historiam rerum adhuc aliquantulum protelare satagam.” This praiseworthy resolve reminds us of an earlier passage (683 B) where he laments the failure of the princes and prelates of his day to work miracles, and his own inability to force them to the needful pitch of holiness; “Ast ego vim illis ut sanctificentur inferre nequeo. Unde his omissis super rebus quæ fiunt veracem dictatum facio.”
It would seem from this that Orderic dictated his book. (See also his complaint in 718 C, when at the age of sixty he felt too old to write and had no one to write for him.) We need not therefore infer in some other cases that, because an author dictated, therefore he could not write.
[759] The Chronicle (1091) says expressly, “On þisum geare se cyng Willelm heold his hired to X[~p]es messan on Wæstmynstre, and þæræfter to Candelmæssan he ferde for his broðer unþearfe ut of Englalande into Normandige.” So Florence; “Mense Februario rex Willelmus junior Normanniam petiit.” Orderic (696 D) seems to place his voyage a little earlier; “Mense Januario Guillelmus Rufus rex Anglorum cum magna classe in Normanniam transfretavit.” But he places it late in the month; for in 693 B, having recorded the death of Bishop Gerard on January 23, he adds that the King’s voyage happened “eadem septimana.”
[760] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 234.
[761] Richard of Courcy’s son Robert married Rohesia, one of the many daughters of Hugh of Grantmesnil. Ord. Vit. 692 A.
[762] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 197.
[763] Ord. Vit. 691 C.
[764] See Appendix L.
[765] Ord. Vit. 693 B. “Cujus [Guillelmi] adventu audito, territus dux cum Roberto aliisque obsidentibus actutum recessit, et unusquisque propria repetiit.” He is more emphatic in 697 A; “Robertus de Belesmo cum suis complicibus aufugit.”
[766] Ord. Vit. 693 B. “Mox omnes pene Normannorum optimates certatim regem adierunt, eique munera, recepturi majora, cum summo favore contulerunt. Galli quoque et Britones et Flandritæ, ut regem apud Aucum in Neustria commorari audierunt, aliique plures de collimitaneis provinciis, ad eum convenerunt. Tunc magnificentiam ejus alacriter experti sunt, domumque petentes cunctis cum principibus suis divitiis et liberalitate præposuerunt.”
[767] On the Treaty of 1091, see Appendix M.
[769] Ord. Vit. 693 B. “Tunc ingentia Robertus dux a rege dona recepit.”
[770] See Appendix M; and for the affairs of Maine, see below, Chapter VI.
[771] William of Malmesbury (v. 392) is becomingly strong on this head; “Parum hic labor apud Robertum valuit, virum animi mobilis, qui statim ad ingratitudinem flexus, bene meritum urbe cedere coegit.” This comes just after the death of Conan. His whole account is very confused.
[772] See N. C. vol. v. pp. 87–90.
[773] Ib. vol. v. p. 328
[774] Ib. vol. v. p. 388.