[448] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. p. 47. “Ferebant … ad eum convenire, conquerentes nonnullos ex suis, spreto Judaismo, Christianos tune noviter factos fuisse, atque rogantes ut, sumpto pretio, illos, rejecto Christianismo, ad Judaismum redire compelleret. Adquiescit ille, et, suscepto pretio apostasiæ, jubet ex Judæis ipsis adduci ad se. Quid plura? Plures ex illis minis et terroribus fractos, abnegato Christo, pristinum errorem suscipere fecit.” Eadmer brings in this story, without pledging himself to its truth, as one which he, when in Italy, heard from those who came from Rouen. “Sicut illa accepimus, simpliciter ponam, non adstruens vera an secus exstiterint, an non. Ferebant igitur hi qui veniebant,” &c. It is the same story as that which William of Malmesbury tells, iv. 317; “Insolentiæ in Deum Judæi suo tempore dedere indicium; semel apud Rothomagum, ut quosdam ab errore suo refugas ad Judaismum revocarent, muneribus inflectere conati.”

[449] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. p. 47. The protomartyr pleads his own example; “Uno dierum per viam forte eunti apparuit alter juvenis, vultu et veste decorus, qui interrogatus unde vel quis esset, dixit se jam olim ex Judæo Christianum effectum, Stephanum protomartyrem esse.”

[450] Ib. “Æstuans quonam modo suis sacris filium posset restituere, didicit quemadmodum Willielmus rex Anglorum nonnullos hujusmodi, pecuniæ gratis, nuper Judaismo reddiderit.” This way of speaking might almost make us think that the Jew was not living in William’s dominions; yet the whole tenor of the story, which seems to be laid at Rouen, looks otherwise. One phrase is odd; “paternis rogat legibus imperiali sanctione restitui.” William Rufus, as we shall see, did not forget his imperial as well as his royal dignity, but Rouen was an odd place in which to show himself in the imperial character.

[451] Ib. “Tacet ille ad rogata, nondum audiens quamobrem tali negotio sese deberet medium facere.”

[452] Ib. “Advertit Judæus mysterium cur suis precibus non responderet, et e vestigio sexaginta marcas argenti se illi daturum, si Judaismo restitueret filium suum, pollicetur.” This almost looks as if the Jew thought at first that the King, out of zeal for the Hebrew cause, would do the job for him for nothing.

[453] Eadmer, u. s. “Tecum jocarer, stercoris fili? Recede potius et præceptum meum velocius imple, alioquin per vultum de Luca faciam tibi oculos erui.” On the oath, see Appendix G.

[454] Ib. “Confusus princeps in istis, contumeliis affectum juvenem cum dedecore jussit suis conspectibus eliminari.”

[455] Ib. “Fili mortis et pabulum externæ perditionis, non sufficit tibi damnatio tua, nisi et me tecum præcipites in eam? Ego vero cui jam Christus patefactus est absit ut te unquam pro patre agnoscam, quia pater tuus diabolus est.” The reference must be to St. John viii. 44; but the pedigree was a dangerous one for a presumptive grandson to meddle with.

[456] Ib. “Ecce feci quod rogasti, redde quod promisisti.”

[457] Eadmer, u. s. “Filius meus jam nunc et in Christi confessione constantior et mihi est solito factus infestior; et dicis”—​mark the scriptural turn—​“‘Feci quod petisti, redde quod promisisti?’ Immo quod cœpisti primo perfice, et tunc demum de pollicitis age. Sic enim convenit inter nos.”