[751] See vol. i. p. 623.
[752] The portrait of Sibyl is drawn by William of Malmesbury, iv. 389, where she appears as “Filia Willelmi de Conversana, quam rediens in Apuliam duxerat, cujus elegantissimæ speciei prodigium vix ullius disertitudinis explicabit conatus.” So Orderic, 780 A; “Hæc nimirum bonis moribus floruit, et multis honestatibus compta, his qui noverant illam amabilis extitit.” The continuator of William of Jumièges (viii. 14) goes further; “Fuit vero prædicta comitissa pulcra facie, honesta moribus, sapientia præclara, et aliquando absente duce ipsa melius per se negotia provinciæ, tam privata quam publica, disponebat, quam ipse faceret si adesset.” Wace (15422) calls her Sebire, and speaks only of her personal beauty. She was the mother of William Clito who plays so conspicuous a part in Henry’s reign. According to William of Malmesbury she died at his birth in 1103, but Orderic (810 A) tells a strange story how she was poisoned by Agnes the widow of the old Earl Walter Giffard, who hoped to marry the Duke. The more general statement in the continuation of William of Jumièges is to the same effect.
[753] Will. Malms, iv. 389. “Pecuniam infinitam, quam ei socer dotis nomine annumeraverat, ut ejus commercio Normanniam exueret vadimonio, ita dilapidavit ut pauculis diebus nec nummus superesset.”
[754] All these stories are told by William of Malmesbury, v. 439.
[755] Orderic (780 B) allows only thirty thousand. In William of Malmesbury (iv. 349, 383) they have grown into sixty thousand. Figures of this kind, whether greater or smaller, are always multiples of one another.
[756] Ord. Vit. 780 B. “Is nimirum decrevit Guillelmo Ruffo, regi Anglorum, Aquitaniæ ducatum, totamque terram suam invadiare, censumque copiosum abundanter ab illius ærario haurire, unde nobiliter expleret iter, quod cupiebat inire. Eloquentes itaque legatos ad regem direxit eique quod mente volvebat per eosdem insinuavit.”
[757] Orderic (780 C) describes the ambition of the “pomposus sceptriger” whose yearning for dominion was like the thirst of a dropsical man, and then tells us, “Maximam jussit classem præparari, et ingentem equitatum de Anglia secum comitari, ut pelago transfretato, in armis ceu leo supra prædam præsto consisteret, fratrem ab introitu Neustriæ bello abigeret. Aquitaniæ ducatum pluribus argenti massis emeret, et, obstantibus sibi bello subactis, usque ad Garumnam fluvium imperii sui fines dilataret.”
[758] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 539.
[759] I have quoted the passages in N. C. vol. v. p. 99.
[760] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 640.