[91] Because of the extended period during which he is not to be found in the charters, and because Ordericus (ii, p. 381) speaks of his being in exile “ferme quinque annis.” Cf. supra, n. 12.
[92] Ordericus, ii, p. 381.
[93] “Robertus, patre adhuc vivente, Normanniam sibi negari aegre ferens, in Italiam obstinatus abiit, ut, filia Bonifacii marchionis sumpta, patri partibus illis adiutus adversaretur: sed, petitionis huiusce cassus, Philippum Francorum regem contra patriam excitavit.” William of Malmesbury, G. R., ii, p. 332.
[94] “Porro ille, quae ab amicis liberalibus ad subsidium sui accipiebat, histrionibus et parasitis ac meretricibus insipienter distribuebat; quibus improvide distractis, egestate gravi compressus mendicabat, et aes alienum ab externis foeneratoribus exul egenus quaeritabat.” Ordericus, ii, p. 382. Ordericus reserves his worst criticisms for Robert’s later life, but doubtless the moral decay set in early. Cf. ibid., iv, pp. 105-106.
[95] Ibid., iv, pp. 81-82. The author embellishes his account with a further tale of how the boys were brought up in obscurity by their mother, who in later years took them to Robert, then become duke, and proved their parentage by undergoing the ordeal of hot iron.
[96] Ordericus, iv, p. 82; Florence of Worcester, ii, p. 45; William of Malmesbury, G. R., ii, p. 333.
[97] Ordericus, ii, p. 82.
[98] Ibid., iii, p. 320.
[99] Ibid., ii, p. 390; iii, p. 228; William of Malmesbury, G. R., ii, p. 338.
[100] It is clear that the war grew out of the inevitable antagonism between the interests of the two monarchs, and particularly out of the determination on King William’s part to reassert the Norman claim to the Vexin. Ordericus, iii, pp. 222-225. As to the immediate provocation, Ordericus explains that the Conqueror’s attack upon Mantes was in retaliation for predatory incursions which certain lawless inhabitants of the city had been making across the border into Normandy (ibid., p. 222); William of Malmesbury attributes it to an insulting jest which Philip had made about William’s obesity (G. R., ii, p. 336); while Robert of Torigny ascribes it to the aid which Philip had been giving Robert Curthose against his father (Interpolations de Robert de Torigny, in William of Jumièges, p. 265).