Queen of the Conqueror: The Life of Matilda, Wife of William I (51 page)

31.
Round, p. 26; Bates,
Regesta Regum
, pp. 737–38. For another example, see Davis,
Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum
, I, p. 35.

32.
GRA, I, p. 505.

33.
Migne, cols. 1215–16; Barlow,
William Rufus
, p. 443; M.A.E. Green, I, pp. 35–38.

34.
Migne, p. 156; Houts,
Normans in Europe
, pp. 197–99.

35.
Coulton and Swinton, p. 33. According to this account, Simon had converted to the religious life after having his late father’s remains disinterred. Upon seeing
“the wasted body of him who had been his powerful and daring father,” he realized the futility of the political world and resolved to turn his back on it for good. Ibid., p. 33.

36.
Abrahams, pp. 255–56. The editor of this work surmises that the sister in question could have been Constance, but there is no evidence for this. See also Barlow,
William Rufus
, p. 444.

37.
OV, III, p. 115.

38.
Southern,
Saint Anselm: A Portrait in a Landscape
, pp. 92–93.

39.
Elisabeth van Houts has shed new light upon the careers of Matilda’s daughters, in particular Adelida, and she provides an excellent analysis of their varying fates in “The Echo of the Conquest in Latin Sources.”

40.
Barlow,
William Rufus
, p. 13. A similar theory was put forward in the early twentieth century by Turgis, p. 43, who claimed that the girl was named Alice, was very beautiful and virtuous, and died when she reached puberty.

41.
Delisle,
Rouleaux des Morts
, pp. 181–82. The legend that Adeliza was buried at Bayeux (which originated with Orderic) is still repeated by the cathedral guides today.

42.
GRA, I, p. 505. Jumièges concurs that Adelida “died as a girl of marriageable age”: GND, II, p. 263. William of Poitiers does not mention her death at all, which is interesting, as he was writing at the time that it would have occurred. This has led Professor Barlow to suspect that her tragic death en route to Spain was “merely a romantic story”:
William Rufus
, p. 443.

43.
Houts,
Normans in Europe
, pp. 132–33; Houts, “Echo of the Conquest in Latin Sources,” pp. 139–40.

44.
Barlow,
William Rufus
, p. 31.

45.
Abrahams, p. 198. William evidently did not mind being superseded by his daughter in this respect. Langtoft claims that she was a favorite with her father, who “loved [her] so much.” Wright,
Chronicle of Pierre de Langtoft
, I, p. 433.

14:
“A FAITHLESS WIFE”

  
1.
Abrahams, pp. 198–99, 255–56.

  
2.
Morris, vol. V, no. loW7:3 and 8; W. Dugdale,
The Baronage of England
(London, 1675). See also Planché, pp. 72–74.

  
3.
Planché, p. 73.

  
4.
Turgis, pp. 44–46.

  
5.
OV, II, pp. 219, 221.

  
6.
Strickland, pp. 71–72. Another theory is that the tale derived from the story of King Eadwig’s wife or mistress by Osbern or Eadmer. Freeman,
History of the Norman Conquest
, III, p. 662.

  
7.
GRA, I, pp. 501, 503.

  
8.
Cited in Strickland, p. 72.

  
9.
GRA, I, pp. 501, 503.

10.
Turgis claims that the ducal couple also argued frequently over money because William was miserly and his wife was generous. However, there is no mention of this in any of the original sources, and the charters attest to the fact that the duke made at least as many bequests as did his wife.

11.
OV, III, p. 11. The abbey church of Bec was also dedicated that year, but William and Matilda did not attend the ceremony.

12.
Ibid., pp. 13,15.

13.
GND, I, Appendix. Douglas points out that in two charters issued in 1096, Robert seems to date his tenure of the duchy from 1077 or 1078. Douglas,
William the Conqueror
, pp. 228–29. See also Bates,
Regesta Regum
, pp. 94–96.

14.
Davis, “William of Jumièges,” pp. 597–606.

15.
OV, II, p. 359.

16.
Bates,
William the Conqueror
, pp. 146–47.

17.
GRA, I, p. 701. For a similar account, see OV, IV, pp. 115, 119.

18.
Robert would sire a host of illegitimate children during his lifetime. But he would be superseded in this respect by his youngest brother, Henry, whose promiscuity was notorious. He took a string of English mistresses and fathered numerous bastards before he married Edith-Matilda of Scotland in 1100.

19.
GND, II, p. 195.

20.
OV, III, p. 99.

21.
Ibid., p. 115.

22.
GRA, I, p. 543.

23.
Ibid., p. 701.

24.
OV, II, p. 357; IV, p. 93.

25.
GND, II, p. 185.

26.
GRA, I, p. 703.

27.
OV, II, p. 357.

28.
Ibid., III, p. 103.

29.
GRA, I, p. 701.

30.
OV, III, pp. 97, 99.

31.
GRA, I, p. 701; OV, II, p. 357.

32.
OV, III, p. 99.

33.
GRA, I, p. 701. Orderic Vitalis claims that William had reacted in a more considered way, and that only after reflecting carefully upon the matter did he refuse his son’s request, persuading him “to wait for a more opportune time to acquire them.” He contrasts William’s reasonable behavior with Robert’s petulance, claiming that in response to his father’s calm refusal, Robert cried: “I did not come here to listen to a lecture, for I have had more than enough of these from my schoolmasters … I will no longer fight for anyone in Normandy with the
hopeless status of a hired dependent.” OV, II, p. 357; III, pp. 99, 101. However, Orderic—more than Malmesbury—made use of hindsight in his account, which reads as a moralizing indictment against filial insubordination. From what we know of William and Robert’s relationship, Malmesbury’s account seems more credible.

34.
GRA, I, p. 701; OV, III, p. 101.

35.
OV, III, p. 101. A similar quote is cited on p. 99.

36.
The town was known as Laigle in the eleventh century, and Orderic Vitalis claims that its name derived from the fact that an eagle’s nest was found in an oak tree during the building of the castle. OV, II, p. 357.

37.
Although Orderic tended to combine rumor with fact in his account, the story of what happened at L’Aigle might well be true in most details. The town lay just ten miles from the abbey of St.-Évroult, in which he wrote his history, so he would have been able to draw upon local knowledge of the event. Professor Bates doubts that Matilda’s youngest son, Henry, played the part assigned to him, because he would have been nine years old at the time. Bates,
William the Conqueror
, pp. 237–38. But this was in an era when children—particularly those in noble households—were treated as adults from a much younger age than is the case today. Henry’s father, William, had been a year younger when he assumed control of the duchy. It is therefore possible that Henry did collude with his brother William in goading Robert into rebellion, as Orderic claims. OV, II, pp. 357, 359.

38.
Ibid., p. 359.

39.
A castellan was a caretaker or governor of a castle.

40.
OV, II, p. 359.

41.
GRA, I, p. 701.

42.
ASC, pp. 213–14.

43.
OV, III, p. 103.

44.
Ibid., pp. 104n, 105. The role of messenger was extremely important. Often the letters they conveyed would contain only information that would not necessarily be damning if discovered, the more sensitive part of the communication being left to the messenger to convey orally. Little wonder that they were among the most trusted servants at court.

45.
OV, III, p. 103.

46.
Ibid.; GRA, I, p. 503.

47.
Stafford,
Queens, Concubines and Dowagers
, pp. 109–10.

48.
Strickland, pp. 80–81, claims that Roger de Beaumont was the informant and cites Malmesbury as her source, but the latter contains no reference to this. Her statement that William was in England when he received the news is also unlikely, given that most sources place him in Normandy at this time.

49.
OV, III, p. 103.

50.
Carey, p. 77n. Carey claims that Matilda erected a “Calvaire” (prayer station) at the spot afterward, no doubt in penance for her disobedience.

51.
OV, III, p. 103.

52.
Ibid., pp. 103, 105.

53.
Ibid., p. 105.

54.
Ibid. Samson, described as “shrewd and eloquent and chaste,” proved well suited to the monastic life and spent the next twenty-six years there. William evidently forgave him for his involvement in the family rift, because it is alleged that he offered him the see of Le Mans in 1082. Barlow,
William I and the Norman Conquest
, p. 182.

55.
GRA, I, p. 503.

56.
Ibid., p. 439. The quote is taken from the Roman poet Ovid’s celebrated work
Metamorphoses
. Although Malmesbury was referring to the personal history of Count Fulk IV of Anjou, it was apt for William and Matilda at this point of their marriage.

57.
Beech, pp. 352–53. There is a legend that still persists at La Chaise-Dieu that an English queen was buried in the abbey. The four main candidates are King Harold II’s wife and mistress, Edith of Mercia and Edith “Swanneck” respectively; Edward the Confessor’s wife, Edith; and Matilda. The first three had no known connections with the abbey, whereas Matilda had known of it since its inception in 1052 because her husband had witnessed the foundation charter. Fauroux, pp. 297–99. Beech also points to the fact that the bequest made to the abbey was very similar to those Matilda made to other religious houses, notably Caen and St.-Évroult. Beech, pp. 368–69. However, although it is almost certain that Matilda was the anonymous queen who sought Adelelme’s assistance, there is no reason to suppose that she was buried there. The evidence to support her burial at Caen is irrefutable.

58.
OV, II, p. 361.

59.
The contemporary spelling was Gerberoi.

60.
Darlington and McGurk, III, p. 31.

61.
OV, III, p. 109.

62.
ASC, pp. 213–14. According to Malmesbury, it was Robert who had shot his father’s horse, although this is not mentioned by any other source. GRA, I, p. 477.

63.
Darlington and McGurk, III, p. 33.

64.
It is interesting that in the contemporary sources and the debates by recent historians, all the focus has been on whether Robert knew that he was fighting his father. Whether William had recognized his son has apparently not been considered. The assumption seems to have been that Robert would have been harder to recognize among the swell of other young warriors who fought that day. Yet he, like his father, was of a distinctive bearing, and his diminutive height should have
made him easy to identify—particularly by the man who had so frequently made fun of it. If the duke had knowingly slain Robert, this would have been a lesser crime: his son was a rebel for whom death would have been a just punishment. But if he had gained the upper hand in the struggle, would he, like Robert, have flinched from striking the final blow? From what we know of his cruelty and ruthlessness, it is hard to believe that he would.