[638] Matthew Paris (Hist. Ang. i. 165) copies Henry of Huntingdon with a few touches, and adds, “nec eam esse nisi thalamum ad palatium quod erat facturus.” The foundations of the wall which he designed extended “scilicet a Tamensi usque ad publicam stratam; tanta enim debuit esse longitudo.”
[639] Ann. Wint. 1099. “Rex venit de Normannia, et regis diademate coronatus est apud Londoniam, ubi Edgarus rex Scotiæ gladium coram eo portavit.” The authority is not first-rate; but it is the kind of thing which can hardly have been invented.
[640] The Chronicler (1098) records the deaths of Walkelin, Baldwin, and Turold. Florence (1097, 1098) adds that of Robert, and in one manuscript that of Abbot Reginald of Abingdon, who (Hist. Ab. ii. 42) would seem to have died somewhat earlier, in the year 1097. This prelate is said to have been in the King’s good graces, and to have been employed by him in the pious and charitable distribution from his father’s hoard at the beginning of his reign (see vol. i. p. 17). There is also just before in the local History (ii. 41) a writ of Rufus to Peter Sheriff of Oxfordshire, witnessed by Randolf the chaplain, in which the Sheriff is bidden to let the Abbot and his monks enjoy all that they had T. R. E. and T. R. W., and specially to make good the wrongs done by his reeve Eadwig and others his officers. Here are the reeves again; but this time an English reeve oppresses a Norman abbot.
[641] See vol. i. p. 586.
[642] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 372–816.
[643] Will. Malmb. Gest. Pont. 172, copied in Ann. Wint. 1098.
[644] William of Malmesbury (u. s., and see N. C. vol. iv. p. 817) marks the change in him. The local annalist who copies him gives Walkelin a warm panegyric; “Erat vir perfectæ pietatis et sanctitatis, immensæque prudentiæ, et tantæ demum abstinentiæ ut nec carnes nec pisces comederet.” (His brother Simeon (Ann. Wint. 1082), afterwards Abbot of Ely (see N. C. vol. iv. pp. 481, 833), had taught the monks to give up flesh.) “Semper secum monachos habebat … non enim minus conventum suum diligebat quam si omnes dii essent.” This somewhat pagan way of talking has its contradictory in the words of Hugh of Nonant, Bishop of Coventry (Ric. Div. § 85); “Ego clericos meos deos nomino, monachos dæmonia.”
[645] The well-known trick by which Walkelin cut down the king’s wood at Hempage is recorded in Ann. Wint. 1086. Cf. Willis, Winchester, 17.
[646] Ann. Wint. 1093. See Willis, Winchester, 6, 17.
[647] Ann. Wint. 1097. “Hoc anno transfretavit rex, et regnum Walkelino et Radulfo Passeflabere commisit.”
[648] The exact date comes from Ann. Wint. 1098. He dies ten days after his receipt of the king’s message, which comes “die natalis Domini post inceptum missarum officium.”
[649] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 456.
[650] See vol. i. p. 355. I there carelessly followed the date, 1093, given in the Monasticon, ii. 431, as the year of the death of Robert of New Minster. It must be a misprint or miswriting for 1098.
[651] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 407.
[652] On this early hero, son of King Anna of East-Anglia, whose name has gone through endless corruptions, see Liebermann’s note (Ungedruckte Anglo-Normannische Geschichtsquellen, p. 277) to Heremann’s Miracles of Saint Eadmund. William of Malmesbury (Gest. Pont. 156) writes him “Germinus,” and not unnaturally says that he knows very little about him, save that he was brother of Saint Æthelthryth. His editor turns him into Saint German of Auxerre; he then wonders that William should know so little of Saint German of whom he had found a good deal to say elsewhere, but he does not himself seem the least surprised to hear Saint German spoken of as brother of Saint Æthelthryth.
[653] This and the following stories come from the work of Heremann just mentioned (Dr. Liebermann’s collection contains also the Annals of Saint Eadmund’s). This story of Osgod comes at p. 242. He enters the church, “armillas bajulans in brachiis ambobus superbe [see N. C. vol. iv. p. 288], Danico more deaurata securi in humero dependente;” and presently, “non sincere conatur securim a collo deponere, vel se arroganter super eam appodiare.” On the way of carrying the axe, see N. C. vol. iii. p. 767.
[654] Liebermann, 248 et seqq. Herfast is described as “duarum Eastengle vicecomitatuum episcopus.” A branch runs into his eye as he is riding through a wood. A document is referred to which is witnessed by Hugh of Montfort, Roger Rigod, Richard of Tunbridge, “et cum eis Lincoliensis Turoldus simul et Hispaniensis Alveredus.” Liebermann finds this Turold in the Norfolk Domesday, 172; but as he is “Lincoliensis,” we should rather look for him in the company discussed in N. C. vol. iii. p. 778; only Ælfred of Spain (see N. C. vol. v. pp. 737, 777) is not Ælfred of Lincoln.
[655] See N. C. vol. i. p. 366.
[656] Liebermann, 265. “Natione Normannicus cum rege Willelmo priore quidam fuerat aulicus, Rannulfus quidem nomine, ceu tunc moris erat, militari perversus in opere.” This cannot mean Randolf the chaplain. In his vision, “somniat quod equitans fugam ineat, et sanctus martyr eques insequutor fiat ejus armatus.”
[657] Ib. 268. “Robertus de Curzun” is in Domesday R. de Curcun or Curcon. He appears several times in Domesday in both the East-Anglian shires (175 b, 181 b, 187, 299 b, 331 b, 336), always as an under-tenant, and commonly under Roger Bigod.
[658] The date is given (Liebermann, 274) as 1094, and the King presently crosses the sea; this fixes it to the assembly at Hastings. Baldwin has finished the eastern part of his church (“ad unguem perduxerat suæ novæ et inceptæ ecclesiæ presbiterii opus, multifariam compositum modis omnibus, quale decuit esse regium decus”). The King first grants leave for both ceremonies; then “regia voluntas alterata prædicto patri Baldwino mandat in hæc verba; translationem sancti martyris se concedere, dedicationem vero minime fieri debere.”
[659] Compare the story of Saint Olaf, above, p. 139. Flambard here appears in a marked way as “Rannulfus capellanus,” “capellanus;” see Appendix S.
[660] “Omnia Romæ venalia,” says Heremann (Liebermann, 251); but the story is rather of an attempt of Bishop Herfast to bribe the Conqueror.
[661] Florence at least (1097) sends him out of the world with very kindly feelings; “Eximiæ vir religionis, monasterii S. Eadmundi abbas Baldwinus, natione Gallus, artis medicinæ bene peritus, iv. kal. Jan. feria iii. in bona senectute decessit.” He uses the same formula of Earl Leofric forty years earlier. Several English names occur in Heremann’s story; among them (Liebermann, 259) “domnus Eadricus præpositus et cum eo presbyter Siwardus,” who are spoken of in connexion with the Abbot’s journey to Rome.
[662] Chron. Petrib. 1099. “Se cyng Willelm … to Pentecosten forman siðe his hired innan his nywan gebyttlan æt Westmynstre heold, and þær Rannulfe his capellane þæt biscoprice on Dunholme geaf, þe æror ealle his gemót ofer eall Engleland draf and bewiste.” See vol. i. p. 333.
[663] The date, place, and consecrator are given by his biographer in Ang. Sac. i. 707, who adds that it was done “sine ulla exactione professionis, sicut et Willelmus quondam prædecessor illius.”
[664] William of Malmesbury (Gest. Pont. 274), after describing Flambard’s former doings, adds emphatically; “Quibus artibus fretus, episcopatum Dunelmensem meruit.” But he scratched out what he at first went on to say—“meruit ut sanctius ingrederetur, datis mille libris.” One would have looked for a larger sum.
[665] See N. C. vol. v. p. 631. But it would seem from the words of the biographer (X Scriptt. 62; Ang. Sac. ii. 709) that the work was not quite finished till after his death; “Eo tempore [in the five years’ vacancy that followed] navis ecclesiæ Dunelmensis monachis operi instantibus peracta est.” This can hardly mean the vault, which seems later still. The biographer also describes his other local works, specially how “urbem hanc, licet natura munierit, muro ipse reddidit fortiorem et augustiorem.” William of Malmesbury (Gest. Pont. 274) records new buildings for the monks among his better deeds.
[666] The biographer (u. s.) says, “Condidit castellum in excelso præruptæ rupis super Twedam flumen, ut inde latronum incursus inhiberet et Scotorum irruptiones. Ibi enim, utpote in confinio regni Anglorum et Scotorum, creber prædantibus ante patebat incursus, nullo ibidem quo hujusmodi impetus repelleretur præsidio locato.” From Simeon’s Gesta Regum we find that the place was Norham and the date 1121. The words in Italics should be noticed. By the time of this writer the older position of Lothian was beginning to be forgotten; it had passed to Northumberland. The building of the castle suggests to the biographer a remark on Flambard’s character; “Taliter impulsu quodam impatiente otii de opere transibat ad opus, nil reputans factum, nisi factis nova jam facienda succederent.”
[667] “Jura libertatis episcopii secundum vires contra extraneos defendebat,” says the biographer.
[668] “Inerat ei episcopo magnanimitas quam quondam procurator regni contraxit ex potentia, ut in conventu procerum vel primus vel cum primis semper contenderet esse, et inter honorificos honoris locum magnificentius obtineret. Vastiori semper clamore vultuque minaci magis simulare quam exhibere.” In all this the servant is very like his master.
[669] According to William of Malmesbury (Gest. Pont. 274), he first behaved well for fear of Saint Cuthberht, but finding that some smaller misdeeds went unpunished, he presently ventured on greater. But in the existing text he mentions only that Flambard dragged criminals out of sanctuary, “ausus scelus omnibus retro annis inauditum.” William had written, but he found it expedient to strike out, how the Bishop not only set forbidden food before his monks, but, “ut magis religionem irritaret, puellas speciosissimas quæ essent procatioris formæ et faciei eis propinare juberet, strictis ad corpus vestibus, solutis in terga crinibus.”
[670] The details of a very penitent end are given by the biographer. Among other confessions of sin, the Bishop says. “plus volui illis nocere quam potui”—the complaint of the Confessor. The persons who were to be hurt seem to be the monks and men of the church of Durham.
[671] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 544.
[672] Vet. An. 306. “Quasi taurus in latebris silvarum.”
[673] Ib. “Helias apud castrum Lid et in castris circumpositis morabatur, atque vires suas … ad nova certamina, in quantum poterat, reparabat, castella sua vallo atque fossa muniendo, et sibi vicinorum amicitias atque auxilia consciscendo.” So Orderic, 773 C; “Quinque oppida sua cum adjacentibus vicis instruxit, sollicita procuratione damna supplevit, propriisque negotiis sedulus institit. Ab Augusto usque ad pascha in pace siluit. Interim tamen quasi specimine nisus suos hostibus ostenderet, callide cogitavit, et multotiens cum fidis affinibus tractavit.”
The five castles may be Château-du-Loir, Lude (Lit), Mayet, Outille, and Vaux. La Flèche is perhaps taken for granted. All these, except Lude, are mentioned as we go on.
[674] Ord. Vit. 774 C. “Sequenti anno Helias post pascha iterare guerram cœpit, et clam consentientibus indigenis, depopulari confinia et militiam regis lacessere sategit.”
[675] Ib. “Mense Junio cum insigni multitudine militum venit.” Vet. An. 307. “Sequenti æstate magno vicinorum atque amicorum exercitu congregato.”
[676] Of the two bridges side by side, the elder is useless, two arches having been broken down by the Vendeans in 1793. But there has been fighting not far off in still later times.
[677] Ord. Vit. 774 C. “Venit ad Planchias Godefredi, vadum Egueniæ fluminis pertransivit, regiosque pugiles qui urbem custodiebant ad conflictum lacessiit.” Vet An. 307. “Non longe a civitate improvisus advenit; cui milites regis simul cum populo usque ad Pontem Leugæ hostiliter occurrentes quum ejus impetum sustinere non possent in fugam conversi sunt. Ille vero amne transmisso, eos viriliter insecutus,” &c. These two accounts seem to place the fighting on different sides of the river. I incline to Orderic’s version on this ground. A version which carries men across by a ford is always to be preferred to one which carries them across by a bridge, as likely to preserve the older tradition. The bridge may always have been built between the time of the event and the time of the writer, and he may easily be led to speak as if it had been there at the earlier time. Orderic himself speaks of the bridge in 775 B.
[678] Ord. Vit. 774 C. “Audaces Normanni foras proruperunt, diuque dimicaverunt, sed numerosa hostium virtute prævalente in urbem repulsi sunt. Tunc etiam hostes cum eisdem ingressi sunt, quia eorum violentia coerciti municipes portas claudere nequiverunt; sed per urbem fugientes vix in arcem aliasque munitiones introire potuerunt.” Vet. An. 307. “Ille [Helias] cum suo exercitu civitatem nullo prohibente audacter ingressus, eos qui in munitionibus erant repentina obsidione conclusit.”
[679] Ord. Vit. 774 C. “Cives Heliam multum diligebant, ideoque dominatum ejus magis quam Normannorum affectabant…. Porro Helias a gaudentibus urbanis civitate susceptus est.” Wace (14884) strongly brings out the general zeal for Helias, though he has his own explanation for it;
Helias however was not a new lord, a fact which Wace’s confused order puts out of sight. On the somewhat different tone of the Biographer of the Bishops, see Appendix KK.
[680] Ord. Vit. u. s. “Municipes qui munimenta regis servabant omnibus necessariis pleniter abundabant, et idcirco usque ad mortem pro domini sui fidelitate prœliari satagebant.”
[681] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 266.
[682] Ord. Vit. 774 D. “Galterius Ansgerii filius custos arcis jussit fabris quos secum habebat operari, scoriam quoque candentem super tecta domorum a balistariis impetuose jactari. Tunc rutilus Titan sublimes Geminos peragrabat, et ingenti siccitate mundus arebat, flammeusque turbo imbricibus aularum insidebat. Sic nimius ignis accensus est, quo nimium prævalente tota civitas combusta est.” Vet. An. 307. “Illi qui erant in arce, facto vespere ignem maximum incendentes, in subjectas domos ardentes faculas summa instantia jactare cœperunt. Ignis vero flante Euro convalescens totam civitatem cum magna parte suburbiorum consumpsit.” For Bishop Hildebert’s view of the matter, see Appendix KK.
[683] Vet. An. 307. “Quo incendio populus stupefactus atque in mœstitiam conversus non satis fidum comiti præstabat auxilium.”
[684] The work of destruction which has been done in modern times at Paris and Rouen seems a trifle compared to the merciless havoc wrought at Le Mans. It amounts almost to a physical destruction of the city. The hill has been cut through to make a road from the modern part of the town to the river. This has involved breaking through the Roman walls, cutting through the Vielle Rome and the other ancient streets, sweeping away the finest of the Romanesque houses, dividing in short the hill and the ancient city into two parts severed by a yawning gap. The mediæval wall has further been broken down and made into a picturesque ruin. When I was first at Le Mans in 1868, the city was still untouched; in 1876 the havoc was doing; by 1879 it was done. Some conceited mayor or prefect doubtless looks on all this brutal destruction as a noble exploit.
[685] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 267.
[686] Vet. An. 307. “Comes contra munitiones machinas atque tormenta ad jactandos lapides erigens, eos qui intus erant summo conamine expugnare nitebatur. At illi contra machinas ejus machinas facientes, omnia ejus molimina frustrabant.” Ord. Vit. 774 D. “Helias et sui frustra machinis et assultibus valde laboraverunt; sed contra inexpugnabiles munitiones nihil prævaluerunt.” So Wace, 14898;
[687] Ord. Vit. 774 D. “Rodbertus Belesmensis Balaonem munivit.”
[688] Ord. Vit. 774 D. “Cursorem suum Amalchisum confestim ad regem in Angliam direxit.” We do not get the name anywhere else. Wace (14902) well brings out the opposition of “Normanz” and “Mansels;”
[689] See Appendix PP. It is Normant and Mansels in the new edition of Andresen, 9803.
[690] See Appendix PP.
[691] Ord. Vit. 775 A. “Ibi, ut moris est in æstate, plures utriusque ordinis adstabant, et visa rate de Anglia velificante, ut aliquid novi ediscerent, alacres exspectabant.”
[692] Ib. “In primis de rege sciscitantibus ipse certus de se adfuit nuntius.” So in Greek, αὐτὐς ἄγγελος.
[693] Ib. B. “Et quia ex insperato respondit ridens, percunctantibus admiratio exorta est, mox et lætitia omnibus.”
[694] Ib. “Deinde cujusdam presbyteri equa vectus, cum magno cœtu clericorum et rusticorum qui pedites eum cum ingenti plausu conducebant, Bonamvillam expetiit.”
[695] See N. C. vol. iii. pp. 241, 696. As commonly happens with so-called local tradition, a tower not earlier than the thirteenth century is shown as the place of Harold’s lodging, while in another tower the wide splay of a narrow window is shown as the strait prison-house of Robert of Bellême.
[696] Ord. Vit. 775 B. “Tandem directis legationibus ingentem exercitum in brevi aggregavit, et hostilem provinciam depopulatum festinavit.”
[697] Ib. “Agmen hostium cum Helia duce suo, statim ut regem citra fretum venisse comperit, absque procrastinatione fugiens invasam urbem multo pejorem quam invenerat deseruit.” The turn in the Biographer (Vet. An. 307) is somewhat different; “Cernens quia nihil proficeret, et quod ejus paulatim dilaberetur exercitus, regisque timore perterritus, qui cum maximo exercitu suis properabat succurrere, propriæ saluti consulens, relicta obsidione repente a civitate discessit.” In Orderic Helias might be thought to be carried away by the flight of his followers; in the Biographer he almost seems to forsake them.
[698] Ord. Vit. 775 C. “Tunc Helias cum ingenti militia castro Ligeri morabatur, seseque ad meliora tempora reservans, exitum rei præstolabatur.”
[699] Vet. An. 307. “Quo comperto, quatenus timor simul ac stupor animos civium invaserit, et quanta populi multitudo cum mulieribus et parvulis relictis omnibus quæ habebant eum secuta sit … miserum est audire.”
[700] Ord. Vit. 775 B. “Animosus rex, hostium audito recessu, pedetentim eos sectatus est, et Cænomannis nec una nocte eum hospitari dignatus est. Verum concrematam urbem pertransiens vidit, et ultra pontem Egueniæ in epitimio spatioso tentoria figi præcepit.” This strange word “epitimium” must be the same as that which he uses in 659 B, where the site of the great battle is placed “in epitumo Senlac.” I there took it to mean a hill, and I gave Orderic credit for knowing that Senlac was a hill; but I fear that I must withdraw that praise, as here the word can only mean a plain. See Ducange in Epitumum. It must be from this word that some local blunderer first drew the notion, which I have seen repeated since I wrote my third volume, that Senlac was once called Epiton.
[701] Ib. This was done, “ne malivoli prædones … domata ubi ad capessendam quietem strata sibi coaptarent.” Orderic adds, “sic profecto Valles et Ostilliacum consumpta sunt, aliaque quamplurima oppida et rura penitus pessumdata sunt.” Helias, after all, was not Harold.
[702] Ord. Vit. 775 B. “Robertus de Monteforti princeps militiæ cum quingentis militibus agmina præcessit, incendium castri de Vallibus extinxit, munitionemque ad opus regis confirmavit.”
[703] On the site of Mayet, and the versions of the siege, see Appendix QQ. Wace brings it in thus; I quote the text of Andresen, 9929 (15026 of Pluchet);
[704] Ord. Vit. 775 C. “Feria vi. rex Maiatum obsedit, et in crastinum expugnare castrum exercitui jussit.”
[705] Ib. “Sabbato, dum bellatores certatim armarentur, et acrem assultum castrensibus dare molirentur.”
[706] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 243.
[707] Ord. Vit. 775 C. “Rex consultu sapientum [mid his witena geþeaht] Deo gloriam dedit, et pro reverentia Dominicæ sepulturæ et resurrectionis hostibus pepercit, eisque trevias usque in Lunæ diem annuit.”
[708] Ib. “Erant viri constantes dominoque suo fideles, ideoque pertinaciter pro illo usque ad mortem pugnaces, et exemplo probabilis probitatis prædicabiles.”
[709] Ord. Vit. 775 C. “Interea ipsi castrum interius toto annisu munierunt, et in assultum virgeas crates ictibus missilium lapidumque opposuerunt.”
[710] Wace, 15038;
Robert of Bellême then counsels him;
The King gives his orders;
[711] Ib.
[712] Froissart, i. 152. ed. 1559. “Quand le roy de France veit les Génevois retourner, il dit, Or tost tuez ceste ribaudaille; car ils nous empescheront la voye sans raison.” Compare also the language of Bayard about the German roturiers quoted in vol. i. p. 173.
[713] Wace, 15066;
[714] Ord. Vit. 775 D. “Cum forinseci pugnatores admodum insudarent, ut ingenti strue lignorum cingentem fossam implerent, viamque sibi usque ad palum pluribus sustentamentis magnopere substratis publice præpararent, oppidani flascas prunis ardentibus plenas desuper demittebant, et congestiones rerum quæ ad sui damnum accumulatæ fuerant, adminiculante sibi æstivo caumate prorsus concremabant.” What was the exact form of the “flascæ”?
[715] Ord. Vit. 775 D. “Hujusmodi conflictu feria ii. mutuo vexabantur, et hæc videns rex nimis anxiabatur.”
[716] Ib. “Porro dum ira et dolore torqueretur quod omnes ibidem conatus illius cassarentur, quidam ad illum de sublimi zeta lapidem projecit, nutu Dei non illum sed adstantis athletæ caput immaniter percussit, et ossa cerebro non parcente ictu commiscuit.”
[717] Ib. “Illo itaque coram rege miserabiliter occumbente, subsannatio castrensium continuo facta est, cum alto et horribili clamore: ‘Ecce rex modo recentes habet carnes; deferantur ad coquinam, ut ei exhibeantur ad cœnam.’”
[718] Ib. 776 A. “Prudentes enim consiliarii provide considerabant quod in munitione validissima magnanimi pugiles resistebant, munitique firmis conclavibus contra detectos multiplicibus modis facile prævalebant.” This argument, one would think, might have been brought against every military undertaking of the time.
[719] Ord. Vit. 776 A. “Alio ulciscendi genere inimicus puniret, et sic suæ genti sospitatem et hostium dejectionem callide procuraret.”
[720] Ib. “Mane celeres surrexerunt, ac diversis ad desolationem hostilis patriæ ferramentis usi sunt. Vineas enim exstirpaverunt, fructiferas arbores succiderunt, macerias et parietes dejecerunt, totamque regionem, quæ uberrima erat, igne et ferro desolaverunt.”
[721] Vet. An. 307. “Hi qui in civitate remanserant quam crudeliter et quam inhumane ab hostibus sint oppressi, et miserum est audire et nimis tædiosæ prolixitatis exponere.”
[722] Ord. Vit. 776 A. “Rex Cenomannis triumphans accessit.”
[723] Vet. An. 307. “Nisi regis liberalitas prædonum sævientium rapacitatem compesceret, diebus illis pro certo civitas nostra ad extremum pervenisset excidium.”
[724] This appears from the account of Hildebert’s troubles somewhat later (Vet. An. 309); first among which comes “clericorum quos violentia regis ab urbe eliminaverat dispersio mœstissima.”
[725] Ord. Vit. 776 A. “Multarum tribubus provinciarum licentiam remeandi ad sua donavit.”
[726] Vet. An. 307. “Denique rex civitate pro suo potitus arbitrio, et positis in ea custodiis, iterum in Angliam reversus est.” Our own Chronicler (1099) sums up the whole campaign; “And sona þæræfter [after Pentecost] ofer sǽ fór, and þone eorl Elias of þære Manige adraf, and bi syððan on his gewealde gesætte, and swa to Sc̃e Michaeles mæssan aft hider to lande com.”
[728] Ord. Vit. 775 B. “Ildebertus pontifex in Normannia regem humiliter aggressus est, et ab eo ut familiaris amicus benigniter susceptus est. Non enim consilio neque præsentia sui prædictis perturbationibus interfuerat.”
[729] An. Vet. 308. “Quidam ex clericis a principio promotioni præsulis invidentes, et dolos tota die contra eum meditantes, illum apud regem graviter accusabant, nuntiantes eum conscium fuisse proditionis quando Helias comes consentientibus civibus civitatem occupavit et milites regis in munitionibus obsedit. Unde eum rex suspectum habens, et contra eum semper occasiones quærens, instanter atque pertinaciter ab eo exigebat ut aut turres ecclesiæ, unde sibi damnum illatum fuisse querebatur, dirui præciperet, aut post ipsum remota omni occasione in Angliam transfretaret.”
[730] Ann. Vet. 308. “Qui licet invitus, regis tamen urgente imperio, vellet nollet, maris pericula subire coactus est.” He is himself (Duchèsne, iv. 248) specially eloquent on this head; “Quia turres ecclesiæ nostræ dejicere nolumus, transmarinis subjiciendi judiciis, coacti sumus injurias pelagi sustinere, singularem scilicet molestiam itineris atque unicam totius humanæ compaginis dissolutionem.”
[731] Vet. An. 308. “Ibique eum rex iterum stimulantibus æmulis de turrium destructione cœpit vehementer urgere, eique ob hanc causam intolerabilem inferre molestiam.”
[732] Ib. “Obtulit pontifici maximum pondus auri et argenti, unde sepulcrum beati Juliani honorifice, immo ad ignominiam sempiternam, fieri potuisset. Nam talis instabat conditio ut statim turres ecclesiæ delerentur.” He calls this a “pactio toxicata.”
[733] Ib. “Nos caremus in partibus nostris artificibus qui tantum opus congrue noverint operari; exhinc regiæ congruit dispositioni tam diligens opera et impensa, in cujus regno et mirabiles refulgent artifices et mirabilem operantur cælaturam.” See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 41, 85, 86, 93.
[734] Ib. “Detulit plane duo pretiosa cimbala, et optimam cappam de pallio et duas pelves argenteas cum aliis ornamentis.”
[735] See Appendix RR.
[736] See Appendix RR.
[737] See vol. i. p. 566.
[738] See vol. i. p. 622.
[739] The true text of the Annales Cambriæ, 1099, is clearly that which the editor thrusts into a note; “Cadugaun filius Bledin de Hibernia rediens, pacificatus est cum Francis et partem regni sui accepit. Lewelin filius Cadugaun ab hominibus de Brecheiniauc occiditur. Grifud filius Kenan Moniam obsedit.”
The Brut might imply a peaceful settlement of Gruffydd.
[740] Ann. Camb. 1099.
[742] Chron. Petrib. 1099. “Ðises geares eac on Sc̃e Martines Mæssedæg, asprang up to þan swiðe sæ flod, and swa mycel to hearme gedyde swa nan man ne gemunet, þæt hit æfre æror dyde and wæs þæs ylcan dæges luna prima.” This is translated in the Roman annals in Liebermann, p. 47.
[743] Chron. Petrib. 1099. “And Osmund biscop of Searbyrig innon aduent forðferde.” Florence gives the exact date, December 3.
[744] There is nothing special to note as to the authorities for this chapter. Our main story still comes from the same sources from which it has long come. Possibly the importance of Orderic, long growing, grows yet greater at the very end of our tale. And we still make a certain use of Wace. The story of the death of William Rufus is one of those in which it is desirable to look in all manner of quarters to which we should not commonly think of turning, not so much in search of facts, as to see how such a story impressed men’s minds, and what forms it took in various hands.
[745] See the entry in the Chronicle, 1087.
[746] See Plutarch, Periklês, 8.
[747] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 161.
[748] Ord. Vit. 781 D. We shall come to this again.
[749] Ann. Burton, 1100.
[750] The three assemblies are recorded in the Chronicle in a marked way; “On þison geare se cyng W. heold his hired to Xp̃es mæssa on Gleaweceastre, and to Eastron on Winceastre, and to Pentecosten on Westmynstre.”
[751] See vol. i. p. 623.
[752] The portrait of Sibyl is drawn by William of Malmesbury, iv. 389, where she appears as “Filia Willelmi de Conversana, quam rediens in Apuliam duxerat, cujus elegantissimæ speciei prodigium vix ullius disertitudinis explicabit conatus.” So Orderic, 780 A; “Hæc nimirum bonis moribus floruit, et multis honestatibus compta, his qui noverant illam amabilis extitit.” The continuator of William of Jumièges (viii. 14) goes further; “Fuit vero prædicta comitissa pulcra facie, honesta moribus, sapientia præclara, et aliquando absente duce ipsa melius per se negotia provinciæ, tam privata quam publica, disponebat, quam ipse faceret si adesset.” Wace (15422) calls her Sebire, and speaks only of her personal beauty. She was the mother of William Clito who plays so conspicuous a part in Henry’s reign. According to William of Malmesbury she died at his birth in 1103, but Orderic (810 A) tells a strange story how she was poisoned by Agnes the widow of the old Earl Walter Giffard, who hoped to marry the Duke. The more general statement in the continuation of William of Jumièges is to the same effect.
[753] Will. Malms, iv. 389. “Pecuniam infinitam, quam ei socer dotis nomine annumeraverat, ut ejus commercio Normanniam exueret vadimonio, ita dilapidavit ut pauculis diebus nec nummus superesset.”
[754] All these stories are told by William of Malmesbury, v. 439.
[755] Orderic (780 B) allows only thirty thousand. In William of Malmesbury (iv. 349, 383) they have grown into sixty thousand. Figures of this kind, whether greater or smaller, are always multiples of one another.
[756] Ord. Vit. 780 B. “Is nimirum decrevit Guillelmo Ruffo, regi Anglorum, Aquitaniæ ducatum, totamque terram suam invadiare, censumque copiosum abundanter ab illius ærario haurire, unde nobiliter expleret iter, quod cupiebat inire. Eloquentes itaque legatos ad regem direxit eique quod mente volvebat per eosdem insinuavit.”
[757] Orderic (780 C) describes the ambition of the “pomposus sceptriger” whose yearning for dominion was like the thirst of a dropsical man, and then tells us, “Maximam jussit classem præparari, et ingentem equitatum de Anglia secum comitari, ut pelago transfretato, in armis ceu leo supra prædam præsto consisteret, fratrem ab introitu Neustriæ bello abigeret. Aquitaniæ ducatum pluribus argenti massis emeret, et, obstantibus sibi bello subactis, usque ad Garumnam fluvium imperii sui fines dilataret.”
[758] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 539.
[759] I have quoted the passages in N. C. vol. v. p. 99.
[760] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 640.
[761] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 609, 650, 843.
[762] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 843. Orderic’s account (780 C) is; “Tunc circa rogationes lugubris eventus in Nova-foresta contigit. Dum regii milites venatu exercerentur, et damulas vel cervos catapultis sauciare molirentur, quidam miles sagittam, ut agrestem feram vulneraret, emisit, egregiumque juvenem Ricardum Rodberti ducis filium casu percussit.”
[763] Orderic goes on to say, “Eques, infortunio gravi territus, ad sanctum Pancratium statim confugit, ibique mox monachus factus genuinam ultionem ita evasit.” “Sanctus Pancratius” means Lewes, the foundation of William of Warren.
[764] So says Orderic, u. s.
[766] Florence (1100) gives a long list of wonders. Among others, “Multis Normannis diabolus in horribili specie se frequenter in silvis ostendens, plura cum eis de rege et Rannulfo et quibusdam aliis locutus est.” Orderic (781 B) does not draw this national distinction, and speaks of visions in holier places; “Mense Julio (1100), dum regia classis regalis pompæ apparatu instrueretur, et ipse pervicaciter, immensa pretiosi metalli pondera undecunque congerens, prope fretum præstolaretur, horrendæ visiones de rege in cœnobiis et episcopiis ab utrisque ordinibus visæ sunt, unde in populis publicæ collocutiones in foris et cœmeteriis passim divulgatæ sunt, ipsum quoque regem minime latuerunt.”
[767] See that strangest of all stories which I have referred to in Appendix G.
[768] The consecration and the bishops who had a hand in it are recorded by Florence, 1100. But he does not mention the other Gloucester stories; these come from Orderic, who does not mention the consecration. The two accounts thus fit in to one another. We see why the monks of Gloucester should be in a special fit of exalted devotion.
[769] Ord. Vit. 781 B, C. The dreamer was “quidam monachus bonæ famæ, sed melioris vitæ.” He at last understands “sanctæ virginis et matris ecclesiæ clamores pervenisse ad aures Domini, pro rapinis et turpibus mœchiis, aliorumque facinorum sarcina intolerabili, quibus rex et pedissequi ejus non desistunt divinam legem quotidie transgredi.”
[770] Ib. “His auditis, venerandus Serlo abbas commonitorios apices edidit, et amicabiliter de Gloucestra regi direxit, in quibus illa quæ monachus in visu didicerat luculenter inseruit.” This letter of Serlo’s will appear under various shapes.
[771] Ib. C, D.
[772] “Fulcheredus, Sagiensis fervens monachus, Scrobesburiensis archimandrita primus, in divinis tractatibus explanator profluus, de grege seniorum electus, in pulpitum ascendit.”
[773] “Quasi prophetico spiritu plenus, inter cætera constanter vaticinatus dixit.”
[774] “Effrenis enim superbia ubique volitat, et omnia, si dici fas est, etiam stellas cæli conculcat.”
[776] “Ecce arcus superni furoris contra reprobos intensus est, et sagitta velox ad vulnerandum de pharetra extracta est. Repente jam feriet, seseque corrigendo sapiens omnis ictum declinet.” I tell the tale as I find it; it is easy to guess that the Abbot’s preaching put it into some one’s head to shoot the King; it is equally easy to guess that the story of the sermon is a legend suggested by the fact that the King was shot.
[777] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 498.
[778] On these various stories of the death of Rufus and of the warnings which went before it, see Appendix SS.
[779] See N. C. vol. i. p. 276.
[780] As to the New Forest all accounts agree. I get Brockenhurst as the immediate spot from Geoffrey Gaimar, Chroniques Anglo-Normandes, i. 51;