William crosses to Normandy. March 19, 1094.
Vain attempts to settle the dispute.
Verdict of the guarantors against William. his sojourn at Hastings must surely have dwelled in his mind. Fresh from the rite which in some sort marked the completion of his father's work in England, the younger William set out so far to undo his father's work as to bring Normandy into political subjection to England. At what Norman haven he landed we are not told; it was seemingly in some part of the lands of his earlier conquest, the lands on the right bank of the Seine. Before swords were drawn, an attempt was made to settle the dispute between the brothers. King and Duke met in person; what was their place of meeting we are not told; but no agreement could be come to.[1] A second meeting took place, in which the guarantors of the former treaty were appealed to, much as Cnut had appealed to the witnesses of the treaty between him and Eadmund.[2] The guarantors, the twenty-four barons, twelve on each side, who had sworn to the treaty, agreed in a verdict which laid the whole blame upon the King. The words of our account—it is the English Chronicler who speaks—clearly imply that the guarantors on William's side agreed in this verdict no less than those who swore on behalf of Robert.[3] And he adds from himself that Rufus would neither allow that he was in fault nor abide by his former engagement.[4] This meeting therefore was yet more
- ↑ Chron. Petrib. 1094. "Syððan he þider com, he and his broðer Rodbeard se eorl gecwæðan, þæt hi mid griðe togædere cuman sceoldan, and swa dydon, and gesemede beon ne mihtan." So Florence; "Rex . . . ad fratris colloquium sub statuta pace venit, sed impacatus ab eo recessit."
- ↑ See N. C. vol. i. p. 435.
- ↑ Chron. Petrib. 1094. "Syððan eft hi togædere coman mid þam ilcan mannan þe ær þæt loc makedon, and eac þa aðas sworen, and ealne þone bryce uppon þone cyng tealdon." The version preserved in one manuscript of Florence says, "denuo in campo Martio convenere." Can this be the "Champ de Mars" just outside Rouen? I had fancied that the name was modern.
- ↑ Ib. "Ac he nolde þæs geþafa beon, ne eac þa forewarde healdan."
