Order of events.
The Whitsun Assembly. June 4, 1088.
Confiscations and grants.
Amnesty of the chief rebels. The chronology of the whole time is very puzzling. We have no exact date for the surrender of Rochester; we are told only that it happened in the beginning of summer.[1] But, as the siege of Pevensey lasted six weeks,[2] it is impossible to crowd all the events which had happened since Easter into the time between Easter and Whitsuntide. Otherwise the pentecostal Gemót would have been the most natural season for some acts of authority which took place at some time during the year. The King was now in a position to reward and to punish; and some confiscations, some grants, were made by him soon after the rebellion came to an end. "Many Frenchmen forlet their land and went over sea, and the King gave their land to the men that were faithful to him."[3] Of these confiscations and grants we should be glad to have some details. Did any dispossessed Englishmen win back their ancient heritage? And, if so, did they keep their recovered heritage, notwithstanding the amnesty which at a somewhat later time restored many of the rebels? One thing is clear, that the Frenchmen who are now spoken of were not the men of highest rank and greatest estates among the rebellious Normans. For them there was an amnesty at once. Them, we are told, the King spared, for the love of his father to whom they had been faithful followers, and out of reverence for their age which opened a speedy prospect of their deaths. He was rewarded, it is added, by their repentant loyalty and thankfulness,
- ↑ Ord. Vit. 669 A. "Anno primo Guillelmi Rufi regis, in initio æstatis, Rofensis urbs ei redita est, omniumque qui contra pacem enses acceperant, nequam commotio compressa est." We shall see by the story of Robert of Rhuddlan, to which we shall presently come, that some of the King's followers were at home again by the end of June.
- ↑ See above, p. 74.
- ↑ Chron. Petrib. 1088. "Eac manige Frencisce men forleton heora land and ferdon ofer sæ, and se cyng geaf heora land þam mannum þe him holde wæron."
