[1091] Ib. “Hæc illum dicentem e vestigio valida infirmitas corripuit, et lecto deposuit, atque indies crescendo ferme usque ad exhalationem spiritus egit.” He mentions Gloucester directly after, but the minute geography comes from Florence (1093); “Rex Willelmus junior, in regia villa quæ vocatur Alwestan vehementi percussus infirmitate, civitatem Glawornam festinanter adiit, ibique per totam quadragesimam languosus jacuit.”
[1092] Here we have the pithy words of the Chronicle; “On þisum geare to þam længtene warð se cyng W. on Gleaweceastre to þam swiðe geseclod, þæt he wæs ofer eall dead gekyd.” So says Eadmer (Hist. Nov. 16); “Omnes totius regni principes coeunt; episcopi, abbates, et quique nobiles, nihil præter mortem ejus præstolantes.”
[1093] The good resolutions of the King come out with all force in the Chronicle; “And on his broke he Gode fela behæsa behét, his agen lif on riht to lædene, and Godes cyrcean griðian and friðian, and næfre má eft wið feo gesyllan, and ealle rihte lage on his þeode to habbene.” The exhortations come out most clearly in Eadmer; Florence seems to attribute them to the King’s lay counsellors; “Cum se putaret cito moriturum, ut ei sui barones suggesserint,” &c.
[1094] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 16. “Hac tempestate Anselmus inscius horum morabatur in quadam villa non longe a Glocestria ubi rex infirmabatur.”
[1095] Ib. “Ingreditur ad regem, rogatur quid consilii salubrius morientis animæ judicet. Exponi sibi primo postulat, quid se absente ab assistentibus ægro consultum sit. Audit, probat, et addit, scriptum est, Incipite Domino in confessione.” He goes on at somewhat further length on the duty of confession. There is something striking in the kind of professional air with which the duty is undertaken. The spiritual physician, called in from a distance, approves the treatment of the local practitioners, just as a physician of the body might do.
[1096] Ib. “Spondet in hoc fidem suam, et vades inter se et Deum facit episcopos suos, mittens, qui hoc votum suum Deo super altare sua vice promittant.”
[1097] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 16. “Scribitur edictum, regioque sigillo firmatur, quatenus captivi quicunque sunt in omni dominatione sua relaxentur, omnia debita irrevocabiliter remittantur, omnes offensiones antehac perpetratæ, indulta remissione, perpetuæ oblivioni tradantur.” More general provisions followed; “Promittuntur insuper omni populo bonæ et sanctæ leges, inviolabilis observatio juris, injuriarum gravis, et quæ terreat cæteros, examinatio.” We may specially regret that we have not the English text of this momentary Great Charter. Its language seems to assume, like the charter of Henry (see above, pp. [344], [392]), that suits brought in the King’s name would be unjust, and that his claims for debts would be unjust also.
[1098] Ib. “Gaudetur a cunctis, benedicitur Deus in istis, obnixe oratur pro salute talis ac tanti regis.” This is the real language of the moment, which is weakened by William of Malmesbury, Gest. Pont. 80; “Plausu exceptum est verbum, ibatque clamor cælo bona et salutem regi optantium.”
[1099] So says the Chronicle; “to manegan mynstren land geuðe.”
[1100] There is something odd in the way in which the Chronicler and Florence couple the two prelates now appointed; “And þæt arcebiscoprice on Cantwarbyrig, þe ær on his agenre hand stód. Anselme betæhte, se wæs ær abbot on Bæc, and Rodbeard his cancelere þæt biscoprice on Lincolne.” That is to say, they cut the whole story short; or more truly they tell it on the same scale on which they tell other things, while we are used to Eadmer’s minute narrative of all that concerns Anselm.