Christmas came, the King was not in England, to attend to ecclesiastical reform or to anything else.
Peace between Robert and William.
Normandy pledged to William. 1096.
The other object for which Jeronto came to England
was fully carried out, whether Jeronto himself had any
real hand in bringing it about or not. Peace was made
between the Duke of the Normans and the King of the
English. In order that Robert might have money to go
to the crusade, the duchy of Normandy was pledged to
his brother for a sum of ten thousand marks. The transaction
was not a cession or a sale; it was a mere pledge.
The duchy was to pass to William merely for a season,
for three years, or for so long a time as Robert should be
away. If the Duke should come back, and should find
himself able to pay the money, the duchy was to be his
again.[1] Still William's possession seemed likely to be a
lasting one. There seemed but small chance of Robert'swearð se cyng and his broðor Rodbeard
eorl sehte swa þæt se cyng ofer sæ fór, and eall Normandig æt him mid feo
alisde, swa swa hi þa sehte wæron." Florence calls the transaction "vadimonium,"
and mentions the price, 10,000 marks, or 6,666l. With this
William of Malmesbury agrees; Eadmer and Hugh of Flavigny make it a
pledge for three years. Hugh's words (Pertz, viii. 475) are; "Pro componenda
inter fratres pacis concordia in Normannia substitit donec, pace facta,
decem milium marcarum pensione accepta, terram suam comes Normanniæ
regi Anglorum usque ad trium annorum spacium custodiendam traderet."
"Pensio" must here be taken in the sense of a single payment. Eadmer's
words are; "Normanniam spatio trium annorum pecuniæ gratis in dominium
tradidit." Orderic (723 A) makes the time five years; "Rex Anglorum. . . .[*P3: . . . ?]
Normanniam usque ad quinque annos servaturus recepit,
fratrique suo ad viam Domini peragendam decem milia marcos argenti
erogavit." Robert of Torigny (Will. Gem. viii. 7) mentions no number of
years, but makes the bargain last as long as Robert shall be away; "Rex
Willelmus in Normanniam transfretans, decies mille marcas argenti ea conditione
Roberto duci commodavit, ut quamdiu idem Dux in prædicta
peregrinatione moraretur, ipse ducatum Normanniæ pro eis vadem haberet,
illum duci restituturus cum ipse sibi prætaxatam pecuniam rediens reconsignasset."]
- ↑ The accounts do not exactly agree; but every version makes the terms such that the duchy was not ceded for ever, but could under some circumstances be recovered. The Chronicler puts it pithily, but without details; "Ðurh þas fare [that is the crusade
