The war of Conches and Evreux.
Movement at Rouen. Robert of Meulan's voyage from England to Normandy, and the demands made by him and his father on the Duke, were actually planned between the cunning Count and the Red King as a means of increasing the confusion which reigned in the duchy. But there are tales of local strife which concern us more nearly. The war of the half-brothers, the war of the Amazons, the strife between Conches and Evreux, between Isabel and Heloise, is an immediate part of the tale of William Rufus. The lord of Conches was strengthened in his struggle with his brother by forces directly sent to his help by the King's order.[1] The war went on; and, while it was still going on, a far more important movement began in the greatest city of Normandy, a movement in which the King of the English was yet more directly concerned. Up to this time his plans had been everywhere crowned with success. His campaign, if campaign we can call it, had begun soon after Easter. Half a year had passed, and nearly the whole of the oldest, though not the truest, Normandy had fallen into his hands without his stirring out of his island realm. It now became doubtful whether Robert could keep even the capital of his duchy.
November, 1090.
State of things in Rouen.
The month of November of this year saw stirring
scenes alike in the streets of Rouen and beneath
the walls of Conches. But, while Conches was openly
aided by the King's troops, no force from England
or from the parts of Normandy which William had
already won had as yet drawn near to Rouen.
Rufus knew other means to gain over the burghers
of a great city as well as the lords of castles and
smaller towns. The glimpse which we now get of the
internal state of the Norman metropolis tells us, like
so many other glimpses which are given us in the history
of these times, just enough to make us wish to be
- ↑ See above, p. 234.
