Thierry, who of course colours the whole story after his fashion, becomes (ii. 140) not a little amusing at this point. The flogging was done by two monks of Christ Church, “Wido et Normannus.” If one stopped to think of matters of nationality at such a moment, we might admire the impartiality of the Norman bishops in entrusting the painful duty to a monk of each nation, somewhat on the principle of a mixed jury. For no one can doubt that Normannus, Northman, was as good an Englishman as Northman the son of Earl Leofwine and other English bearers of that name. Thierry, on the other hand, tells us that the whipping was done by “deux religieux étrangers, appelés Guy et Le Normand.” He seemingly mistook the Christian name “Normannus” for the modern surname “Lenormand,” and he forgot that this last could be borne only by one whose forefathers had moved from Normandy to some other French-speaking land.
[388] Chron. Wint. App.
[389] Ib. See N. C. vol. iv. p. 410.
[390] See Lanfranc, Ep. 67 (i. 80, ed. Giles); N. C. vol. iv. p. 439.
[391] Chron. Petrib. 1089. “On þisum geare se arwurða muneca feder and frouer Landfranc arcebisceop gewat of þissum life, ac we hopiað þæt he ferde to þæt heofanlice rice.”
[392] The exact date comes from his Life, 52 (i. 312, ed. Giles); “anno archiepiscopatus xix, v. calendas Junii diem clausit extremum.” The Latin Chronicler gives us the exact measure of his primacy; “In sede pontificali sedit annis decem et octo, mensibus ix. duobus diebus.” The Life gives us his epitaph, which begins;
“Hic tumulus claudit quem nulla sub orbe Latino
Gens ignoravit.”
See N. C. vol. ii. p. 636.
[393] Vita Lanfranci, 52 (i. 312, ed. Giles). “Cum immineret dies ipsius dedicationis, sicut mos est, omnia corpora de ecclesia elata fuerunt. Tunc quidam frater, sive curiositate, seu quod magis credibile est, pro reliquiis habendam de casula gloriosi Lanfranci abscidit particulam; de qua miri odoris suavitas efflagrabat. Ostendit aliis, qui et ipsi senserunt odoris fragrantiam. Qua de re intellegi datur, quod anima illius in magna suavitate requiescit; cujus corporis indumenta tanto odore redolent.”