[113] Hagenmeyer, Chronologie, nos. 364, 367.
[114] G. F., pp. 436-437; Fulcher, pp. 270-271.
[115] Hagenmeyer, Chronologie, nos. 371-385. Guibert of Nogent says that Robert Curthose laid siege to Acre during the advance upon Jerusalem; but that he was called away by Godfrey. H. C. Oc., iv, p. 257. Ibn el-Athir also reports an attack upon Acre as the crusaders advanced upon Jerusalem. Kamel-Altevarykh, in H. C. Oc., i, p. 198.
[116] G. F., p. 448.
[117] Supra, p. 109, and n. 103.
[118] G. F., pp. 449-450; Raymond of Aguilers, in H. C. Oc., iii, p. 293; Fulcher, p. 297; Ralph of Caen, in H. C. Oc., iii, p. 687; Albert of Aix, ibid., iv, p. 463.
It was evidently at this point that, according to Ordericus Vitalis, Robert was joined by Hugh Bunel, son of Robert de Jalgeio, the fugitive assassin of Countess Mabel, the cruel wife of Roger of Montgomery. Hugh had been provoked to the crime in 1082 because Mabel had violently deprived him of his lawful inheritance, and he had been obliged to flee for his life. He had gone first to Apulia and Sicily and then to Constantinople. But still being pursued by the spies whom William the Conqueror and Mabel’s powerful family had employed to take his life wherever they might find him, he had fled from Christendom altogether; and for many years had dwelt among the Moslems, whose language and customs he had learned. He now offered his services to Robert Curthose, who received him kindly; and, being an excellent warrior and familiar with all the deceptions and stratagems which the pagans practised against the Christians, he was able to be of great service to the crusaders. Ordericus, iii, pp. 597-598.
[119] Hagenmeyer, Chronologie, nos. 388-389, 391.
[120] Raymond of Aguilers, in H. C. Oc., iii, p. 297; G. F., pp. 461-462.
[121] Albert of Aix, in H. C. Oc., iv, pp. 467-468; cf. G. F., pp. 462-463; Raymond of Aguilers, in H. C. Oc., iii, p. 297.