[278] See Note (R).
[279] "Rex magnus parva jacet hic Gulielmus in urna—
Sufficit et magno parva Domus Domino."
From William the Conqueror's epitaph (ap-Gemiticen). His bones are said to have been disinterred some centuries after his death.
[280] Thomson's Essay on Magna Charta.
[281] Orderic. Vital. lib. 4.
[282] The date of William's marriage has been variously stated in English and Norman history, but is usually fixed in 1051-2. M. Pluquet, however, in a note to his edition of the "Roman de Rou," says that the only authority for the date of that marriage is in the Chronicle of Tours, and it is there referred to 1053. It would seem that the Papal excommunication was not actually taken off till 1059; nor the formal dispensation for the marriage granted till 1063.
[283] For authorities for the above sketch, and for many interesting details of Lanfranc's character, see Orderic. Vital. Hen. de Knyghton, lib. ii. Gervasius; and the life of Lanfranc, to be found in the collection of his Works, etc.
[284] Pigott's Scand. Mythol. p. 380. Half. Vand. Saga.
[285] "Suthsaxonum Ministrum Wolfnothem." Flor. Wig.
[286] Asser. de Reb. Gest. Alf. pp. 17, 18.