The treaty of Alton has been described as “the most ill considered step in the whole of Robert’s long career of folly.”[81] It can hardly prove a surprise, however, to one who has followed Robert’s course through that long career. The real folly lay not so much in the making of the treaty as in the whole project of overthrowing Henry I., once he had got fairly seated on the English throne. It is hard to believe that the crown was within the duke’s grasp as the two armies stood facing each other at Alton. Henry had the support of the church and of the mass of his English subjects. Only a faction of the nobles was against him. And a single victory gained by the ducal forces would, it seems, hardly have resulted in disaster for the royal cause. Robert had undertaken a task which was beyond his power and his resources, a fact which the king’s momentary weakness cannot disguise.
FOOTNOTES
[1] A.-S. C., a. 1100; Florence of Worcester, ii, p. 44; William of Malmesbury, G. R., ii, p. 378; Henry of Huntingdon, p. 232; Ordericus, iv, pp. 86-87.
[2] Ordericus, iv, pp. 87-88; William of Malmesbury, G. R., ii, p. 470; cf. Interpolations de Robert de Torigny, in William of Jumièges, p. 279.
[3] A.-S. C., a. 1100, Thorpe’s translation.
[4] William of Malmesbury, G. R., ii, p. 470.
[5] Ordericus, iv, p. 88; Interpolations de Robert de Torigny, in William of Jumièges, p. 279.
[6] Suger, Vie de Louis le Gros, ed. Auguste Molinier (Paris, 1887), p. 8; Wace, Roman de Rou, ii, p. 432:
E al realme rei estoet,
Kar sainz rei pas estre ne poet.